(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) James Kirkland, right, the Utah state paleontologist, and Bill Keach, the state geologist, explain the significance of the Utahraptor megablock at the core center for the Utah Department of Natural Resources in Salt Lake City on Monday, Jan. 29, 2024. The 9-ton piece of rock contains more than a dozen raptor skeletons that date back 135 million years, but state resource managers are having trouble securing funding to excavate the fossils.