Warsaw’s Copernicus Science Centre had a problem. They had a 20-foot-long skeleton of an ancient aquatic predator called Mastodonsaurus, but not nearly enough people to chisel it out of the rock that had entombed it for 240 million years. So, according to the Associated Press, they did something a little weird by recruiting more than 2,000 volunteers to help yank this prehistoric monster out of its stony confinement and into the modern age.Museum visitors can watch it all happen in a glass-walled laboratory, and maybe even join in on the fun if they want, as plenty of everyday people have already done it. Folks who are tattoo artists and office workers and managers are spending two-hour shifts using the tools of archaeology and paleontology to chisel and brush away, separating the rock from the fossilized bone, millimeter by millimeter, and all without accidentally cracking the whole thing into gravel. It’s an extraordinary effort for an extraordinary fossil. Originally found in southern Poland in 2023, the 1300 kilogram skeleton is one of the largest amphibians ever known. It lived somewhere around 240 million years ago during the middle Triassic period, always lurking just beneath the surface of the water like a gigantic crocodile, but with a broader head and a mouth full of conical teeth as it ambushed fish and smaller amphibians.Scientists Believe This is the Largest Mastodonsaurus Ever FoundWhile it had feet, previous research suggests that it rarely walked on land, spending the majority of its life in freshwater or brackish swamps, lakes, and rivers, where, historically, most of its fossils have been found.Researchers think this is the largest Mastodonsaurus skeleton ever found. Speaking with the AP, paleontologist Tomasz Sulej says the animal’s body structure is a little different from previous versions of the same creature that had been previously discovered. This is information that is completely new to the scientific world,” he said.As for the volunteers, it gives a lot of them the opportunity to live out their lifelong Jurassic Park-inspired dreams, experiencing firsthand the surreal feeling of physically unearthing the bones of a creature that had been buried for longer than even the dinosaurs.Once the restoration is complete, the skeleton will become the largest Mastodonsaurus ever displayed, and thousands of regular, everyday nonscientists will be able to proudly say that they helped put it there.The post More Than 2,000 Volunteers Are Excavating a 240-Million-Year-Old Monster appeared first on VICE.