Kansas boy discovers 15-foot marine reptile fossil from 85 million years ago during geology field trip

A Kansas boy searching for fossils during a geology club field trip stumbled onto something far bigger than expected: the remains of a 15-foot-long marine reptile that swam an ancient sea 85 million years ago.

Corbin Bullard was just 11 years old when he spotted several large vertebrae protruding from rock at a quarry near his hometown of Clearwater, Kansas, during a September 2025 outing with the Sedgwick County 4-H Geology Club.

"I didn't know what it was, but I knew that it was something big," Bullard told FOX Local.