in 2016—first its tail,
then its skull—not far
from where they live.
The skull is the most
complete ever found.
Garcia doesn’t have a
degree in paleontol-
ogy, but he has spent
much of his life uncov-
ering fossils. In 1979
he landed a contract
with the SmithsonianJutting up like spikes,
sharp teeth protrude
from the five-foot-
long lower jaw of a
new species of tylo-
saur displayed at the
Edgemont, South
Dakota, home of Frank
Garcia (at left) and
his wife, Debby. The
couple found the
marine reptile fossil
Institution to dig
for fossils in Florida.
“For 10 years they
paid me to go around
looking for fossils,”
he says. During his
career, Garcia discov-
ered tens of thousands
of specimens that
are now at museums
and universities in
the United States.140 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC