text: Wylie Brys (pictured) and his dad, Dallas zookeper Tim Brys, were digging for fossils near a grocery store when Wylie found the dinosaur bones . A five-year-old boy in Dallas has had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of discovering 100million-year-old dinosaur bones while searching for fossils with his dad. Wylie Brys was digging with his dad, Tim Brys, back in September at a construction site near a Mansfield, Texas, grocery store when he made the ancient discovery. 'He walked up ahead of me and found a piece of bone,' Dallas zookeeper Brys said. 'It was a pretty good size and I knew I had something interesting.' The pair had been finding fish vertebrae, but when Wylie came back with the bone, Brys asked him to take him to where he found it, according to KSAX. And now, scientists from Southern Methodist University have helped a Dallas zookeeper and his 5-year-old son excavate the fossil. Tim Brys and his son Wylie worked at the excavation site Tuesday to dig up what paleontology professor Dale Winkler believes could be a nodosaur, a pony-sized dinosaur that dwelled on land. Though Brys and Wylie discovered the fossil last September, it took over seven months to obtain necessary permits to dig up the bones. Scientists started digging last Friday, according to the Dallas Morning News. At the time, the zookeeper, who often leisurely digs for fossils with his son, was not sure what Wylie, then four years old, had found. Wylie (left) and his dad Tim Brys (right) often go on fossil-searching trips as a way to be outside and spend time together. It's believed that the bones Wylie found belong to a nodosaur, a a pony-sized herbivore with scaly, plated skin . The two kept digging because they knew there was a chance of finding Jurassic period marine life remnants in the area. What they found was the nodosaur - meaning 'knobby lizard' in Greek. The lizards were 15-foot-long, scaly-plated plant eaters that could weigh up to about 2,000 pounds according to the Dallas Zoo. 'My dad told me it was a turtle,' Wylie said Tuesday at the site of his discovery. 'But now he's telling me it's a dinosaur.' University experts said it is rare to find a dinosaur in the Dallas area. Wylie Brys, 5, background, watches as Southern Methodist University's Michael Polcyn (right) supervises the removal of a dinosaur bones encased plaster from Mansfield, Texas on Tuesday. University experts say it's rare to find dinosaur remains in the Dallas area . The fossils were wrapped in burlap and plaster to create a protective shell around the bones, like a cast around a human's broken bones. They will be transported to Southern Methodist University for cleaning and assembly, which will likely take months, Winkler said. He added that excavation will continue at the site for the next week or so before construction crews continue building in the area, but that it is unlikely for another dinosaur to be discovered at that site. Brys isn't expertly trained in searching for fossils, but he learned a few tips from the scientists. He and Wylie collect fossils as something they can 'do together outside,' Brys told KXAS. And Brys told the Washington Post that Wylie is just like any other five-year-old. 'He's a little kid,' Brys said. 'He likes playing in dirt as much as finding the fossils, I think.'
target: Wylie Brys and his dad, Dallas zookeeper Tim Brys, were digging for fossils near a local grocery store when they made the discovery in September .
  After seven months, they acquired permits to dig up the bones .
  Scientists from Southern Methodist University are helping with excavation .
  Fossils are expected for be from a nodosaur, a pony-sized herbivore with scaly, plated skin .