Watch experts uncover Zuul, the new dinosaur going on display at the ROM in December

It's hard to imagine any operation involving 4.5tonnes of rock encasing an animalthat's been dead for76 million years as delicate.

But that's exactly how a team of experts at Research Casting International (RCI) approachedthe pristinely preserved specimenof a newly discovered species of dinosauron Tuesday as they worked to slice, mount and flip the huge rock without damaging it, so theycouldcontinue preparing the other side of the fossil.

• ROM scientists name new dinosaur species after Ghostbusters villain

"It's really exciting," said Peter May, who founded RCI back in 1987. "In my career, I don't think anyone's ever flipped a block like this, this is probably a first, just because the block is so big."

All this happened just threemonths before the dinosaur, known asZuulcrurivastator, is expected to beput on display at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).

Fortunately, after a few hiccups, the flip succeeded.

Here's a sneak peak at the process, which took place on Tuesday.

Experts flip a 10,000 pound rock containing a dinosaur fossil

6 years ago

Duration 0:49

Research Casting International Ltd (RCI) have cleared the rock and debris from the top of rock containing Zuul, a 76-million-year old dinosaur. To get to the other side of the rock, they had to cover and protect what they'd already prepared, carefully slice the rock in half, slide the bottom half out and then flip the top chunk over.

New species of dinosaur

Zuul crurivastator, an armoured dinosaur, or ankylosaur, was found in Havre, Montana in May 2014.

The scientists who discovered the fossil named it Zuulbecause they thought its head looked like that of the villain of the same name in Ghostbusters, the hit film released in 1984.

The second part of the name means "destroyer of shins,"because it has a powerful, sledgehammer-like tail with a large knob of bone at the end. Researchersbelieve Zuulused the tail to strike predators in the legs.

When it lived, Zuul would've been about 6.5metres in length and would haveweighed two to threetonnes, according to David Evans, curator of vertebrate palaeontology at the ROM.

It was covered in armour platesto protect it from predators. It even had armour in its eyelids, according to Evans.

Flipping a fossil

The team at RCIhasalready prepared the head and tail.

This year, they cleared rock and debris from the top of what was originally a 16-tonnerock, revealing Zuul's body fromthe neck area to the hips.

To get to the other side, they decided to cover and protect what they'd already prepared, carefully slice the rock in half, slide the bottom half out and then flip thesomewhat lightertop chunk over.

Matt Fair, production and plant manager atRCI, said theyspent three months planning the flip.

"We've worked with something maybe half the size," he said. "The crane we knew is good, but because we're dealing with an organic shape and trying to make steel go through it and work the way we want it to, it doesn't always work."

Evans said near the end of the flip, his heart was beating a mile a minute.

"It really is the moment of truth, whether you're going to have a perfect specimen at the end of the day or whether you're going to have rubble, and today it went as good as I think we ever could've expected it."

'Exceptionally rare'

With the flip complete, theycan now start working on Zuul's oppositeside.

They have high hopes for what they'll find, as they've already declared this dinosaur one of the most complete ever discovered, including its soft tissue.

"This much skin preservation over any dinosaur is exceptionally rare," Evans said. "We have skin that's covering a huge amount of this animal, and in that skin are the armour plates that really make ankylosaurs famous."

Evans said they can't quite tell how Zuul died, but they do know the dinosaur was buried very rapidly, which is how the skin wasprotected from decomposition and scavengers.

That layer of protection also produced some surprising finds in the bottom half of the giant rock.

"We found things like turtles and crocodiles, bits and pieces of duck bill and horn dinosaurs, but in that layer we also found an associated skeleton of the main predator of this armoured dinosaur, a tyrannosaur called Gorgosaurus," Evans said.

These surprises are why the original team who found Zuul took such a large rock specimen.

'Zuul: Life of an Armoured Dinosaur'

Zuul and its environment will be shown off in the ROM's exhibit, Zuul: Life of an Armoured Dinosaur, opening on Dec. 15.

In a release, the ROM said the exhibit will take visitors beyond the"museum walls to the badlands of Montana, in an immersive experience that recreates the Cretaceous worldZuulinhabited."

The exhibit will also includeCGIanimation, interactive games and, of course, a chance to seeZuulup close.

For Amelia Madill, one of RCI's bone preparators, that's not a lot of time to do her job.

"It's going to take a lot of work, a lot of man power, but I think that's the most fun, right? You get to dig up something that's never been seen before and reveal it to the public."