The skeleton of a large dinosaur, originally discovered by an American rancher in Wyoming, went temporarily missing during transport from the US to the Museum of Evolution in Denmark.

After its discovery in 2017, the team spent about 15,000 hours over five years excavating the fossil and shipping it overseas, according to CBS News.

“It was discovered in Wyoming by a rancher and some professional dinosaur hunters,” museum director Christopher Knuth told the outlet.

“This is an incredible specimen, first of all because it's articulated – it's lying in the same position it was when it died 150 million years ago. Secondly, it's 97 percent intact, so it has almost all of the dinosaur's bones,” Knuth said. “So this is a world-class specimen.” (Related article: Three boys discover rare fossil, museum steps in)

A 150-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton discovered in Wyoming is on display in Denmark after it became temporarily lost during transport. https://t.co/tXdM3CeW96

—CBS News (@CBSNews) July 8, 2024

The fossil was loaded onto a plane bound for Denmark and “actually got lost somewhere between Zurich and Copenhagen, but was eventually found about a week late,” Knuth told CBS News.

He told the outlet that multiple transport trackers were needed because the skeleton is 42 feet long. During the skeleton's transport, one tracker recorded the bones as being in Zurich, Switzerland, another recorded the bones as being in Utah, and yet another recorded the fossils as being in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, he added.

The missing bones were eventually discovered in Zurich and then sent to a museum, CBS News reported.

Once the bones arrived, the museum reportedly spent about 24 hours assembling the Camarasaurus grandis neck skeleton.

“We know that it probably died in a river or shallow water and then got covered in some kind of sediment, mud or sand, which prevented predators from eating it,” Knuth told the outlet.

The skeleton may continue to travel further, as the museum has said it is willing to loan the bones to other institutions, CBS News reported.