Passion for dinosaurs leads to major discovery

(CNN) -- Lots of kids are into dinosaurs. Tyler Lyson says he just never grew out of it. He grew up in rural North Dakota and says fossils were more widespread there than in other places in the U.S.

"I was very fortunate to grow up in a very rural area ... that just happens to be one of the best places to find dinosaur fossils," Lyson said.

But in 1999, he didn't find just any fossil; he discovered something jaw-dropping: a 25-foot-long dinosaur, complete with skin. Lyson's find was an Edmontosaurus he named Dakota.

The 65 million-year-old mummified dinosaur was unearthed with Lyson standing by in 2004.

Lyson explained that the dinosaur is one of approximately six "dinosaur mummies" in the world.

"This dinosaur mummy has portions that none of the other dinosaur mummies have preserved," he said.

"So we're able to get a good look at the feet and the legs and the hands and basically the entire body -- what it actually looked like." Watch the CNN.com Live interview »

Lyson is the co-founder of the Marmarth Research Foundation in his hometown. The foundation is creating a museum and outreach programs to give volunteers hands-on field and lab work with fossils.

While getting his doctorate at Yale, Lyson wants to make sure that other kids don't grow out of their fascination with the extinct. E-mail to a friend