Restorationist solves dinosaur fossil 'puzzles'

Before a T. rex can tower over museum visitors or a Triceratops can show off its huge horns, dinosaur fossils must first be painstakingly reconstructed, cleaned, fit together and even painted.

For U.S. restorationist Lauren McClain, the process is like putting together a giant 3D puzzle.

McClain's job begins at her home workshop near Houston, Texas, where she carefully clears away dirt stuck to the more than 60-million-year-old remains using a tiny drill with an air compressor, similar to a dentist's tool.

Then, she must assemble this ancient puzzle even though pieces are almost always missing.

She molds fillings for the lost parts, plugging the holes and repairing the nicks that have appeared in Edmontosaurus femurs or Megalodon teeth over millions of years. She has even worked on a fossil from a 200-million-year-old Eurypterida, or sea scorpion.

McClain doesn't actually like puzzles very much, she says. But when it "turns into a dinosaur... I can get down with those kinds of puzzles," the 33-year-old says.

"When you've got something that's in a hundred pieces, you really have to study all of those edges and how they align, and really, really hone in on those details to rebuild it into what it was," McClain explains.

Many of the giants McClain reconstructs once roamed the land which is now the United States, ranging from Florida in the southeast all the way to Montana and the Dakotas in the north and California in the west.

Prehistoric femur

McClain has been a dinosaur buff since she was a child fan of "Jurassic Park." She even held her wedding at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, home to several dino skeleton recreations.

While working as a graphic designer,...