An 18-foot dinosaur with fossilized skin and intact internal organs was found in 2011 in the oil sands of northern Alberta. This dinosaur mummy was a land-dwelling nodosaur and the best-preserved specimen of its kind.
It was found by accident by miners working in the area. It was painstakingly removed to be shipped to Alberta's Royal Tyrrell Museum where preservationist Mark Mitchell worked more than 7,000 hours over five years to expose the fossil’s skin and bone.
This area was once under the sea and is rich in fossils. The body of the nodosaur ended up at the bottom of an ancient sea where minerals gradually turned the body into a fossil.
The fossil was photographed for the June 2017 issue of National Geographic. The nodosaur was
a plant-eating creature with armored skin. Two 20-inch-long spikes on its shoulders rose like horns and were used for protection against potential predators. It was 18 feet long and weighed nearly 3,000 pounds. Mitchell's reconstruction reveals that the specimen had countershading that acted as camouflage that helped it hide from huge predators.
a plant-eating creature with armored skin. Two 20-inch-long spikes on its shoulders rose like horns and were used for protection against potential predators. It was 18 feet long and weighed nearly 3,000 pounds. Mitchell's reconstruction reveals that the specimen had countershading that acted as camouflage that helped it hide from huge predators.
Related reading: The Amazing Nodosaur Found by Miners
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