If you're excited about seeing a potentially new dinosaur species in person, a visit to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) on November 17th might be a good idea.

That's when Gnatalie, believed to be a previously unknown herbivorous species of long-necked dinosaur, goes on display. Discovered in Utah in 2007, the dinosaur is a composite mount created from several fossil specimens. The project was led by paleontologist Luis M. Chiappe, the head of NHM's research and collections department.

Gnatalie will also be the only green dinosaur on display worldwide because her bones absorbed minerals from the location where the fossils were found. Visitors can see Gnatalie for free at NHM Commons, the museum's new wing and community center.

' Juju Chang spoke with paleontologist Nate Smith about how Gnatalie was discovered, the journey of piecing the 150-million-year-old giant back together, and recent controversies in the world of dinosaur fossils.

ABC NEWS: So what is 75 feet long, green and older than a T-Rex? Well, meet Gnatalie, believed to be a whole new species of dinosaur. Scientists have spent the past decade painstakingly putting this 150 million-year-old giant back together. And National Geographic cameras documented the entire process .

CHIAPPE: Well, this is a 150 million-year-old dinosaur, so it's not surprising that it's not in perfect condition. You can see that some of the tail vertebrae are a bit twisted, broken, and even deformed.

ABC NEWS: Wow. And I'm joined now by Dr. Nate Smith. He's the director of the Dinosaur Institute at the LA Natural History Museum, where Gnatalie will soon be on display . Dr. Smith, thanks for joining us.

SMITH: Thank you for having me.

ABC NEWS: I love that you're living the dream because every kid dreams of being a paleontologist. Here you are studying dinosaurs. But let's start with her color. Why is she green?

SMITH: The color comes from the minerals present in the fossil, and some are more common than others. The green color of Gnatalie is due to a mineral called celadonite, which concentrated after the fossil formed. This mineral replaced some of the existing minerals.

ABC NEWS: And she was found in the Badlands, right, of Utah?

SMITH: Yes. The southeastern part of Utah, near a small town called Bluff, is a very scenic and beautiful area of the United States.

ABC NEWS: And this is like breaking news in the world of dinosaurs. You're calling this a whole-new species. Tell us more about that.

SMITH: Correct. Our researchers are working on that now. Establishing and naming a new species takes time. However, it seems like this dinosaur doesn't quite fit with the previously described large, long-necked sauropods from this region. It's kind of an intermediate between a couple of other species. This makes the discovery even more exciting.

: Take us through the process of excavation to creating this exhibit.

SMITH: Yeah, it's a monumental task, as you can imagine. And in some ways, the most enjoyable part of it is the simplest – you know, finding and starting to excavate those bones. But we give a lot of credit to our technicians and prepare our staff here at the Dinosaur Institute and the NHM, because it takes hundreds and thousands of hours to actually remove these bones from the surrounding rock or matrix. And that's truly the limiting factor for us to bring these giants back to life.

ABC NEWS: And I envision you in an Indiana Jones hat out there, excavating away. And I understand that Gnatalie will go on display this fall. And you had folks vote on her name, and she is Gnat-alie for a reason.

SMITH: That's correct. It's Gnatalie with a G. And that's a nod to in the early days of the work at this quarry, the field crew was just continuously bothered by flying gnats and biting gnats.

ABC NEWS: Once she goes on display, what will visitors to your august museum get to do when they see the new exhibit?

SMITH: Well, Gnatalie is truly a community dinosaur, right? It was unearthed by a group of individuals over, you know, more than a dozen years, including students, volunteers, and researchers from around the globe. It's from BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land, so it's essentially owned by the community. And it will be part of a new display in our new NHM commons community center. So everyone will be able to come and see Gnatalie for free and learn the story about basically what we call a ground-to-mound – so everything that occurred from finding, excavating, preparing, studying, and then ultimately putting on display this massive dinosaur.

ABC NEWS: There's another dinosaur fossil that will not be on public display because recently Apex, the largest stegosaurus ever found, was sold to a private collector for nearly $45 million . So how do you feel about these rare specimens being out of public view and out of reach for researchers?

SMITH: It's a complex issue, with a lot of debate and controversy. Many of us in the paleontological community are hopeful that the buyer of Apex has a history of collaboration with natural history museums. This would mean making the specimen available for display and also supporting paleontological and educational outreach. We're hoping that Apex won't be permanently lost to the public and researchers.

ABC NEWS: And, of course, we all hope that everyone will swarm to go see Gnatalie. Thank you, Dr. Smith, so much for joining us.

SMITH: Thank you for your time. We're looking forward to welcoming everyone this fall.

ABC NEWS: And we know that Gnatalie will make her public debut at the LA Natural History Museum this November. Thanks again.

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