Museum Paleontologi Royal Tyrrell
Mitchell from the boreal forest It found its way back into sunlight in 2017, millions of years after it died. This armored dinosaur has been so well preserved that we can see what it was like in life. Almost the entire animal survived fossilization—the skin, the carapace covering the skin, the bumps on its sides, most of its body and legs, even its face. According to Dr Donald Henderson, Curator of Dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, this is a one in a billion find.
In addition to the preservation of this extraordinary dinosaur, it is an important key to understanding aspects of the ecology of the early Cretaceous period, and demonstrating how this species was able to survive in its environment. Since the discovery of its remains, scientists have studied its anatomy, armor, and even what it ate in its final days, uncovering new and unexpected insights into animals that went extinct nearly 100 million years ago.
under the sea
from the northern forest This is a nodosaur, a type of quadrupedal ankylosaurus with a straight tail instead of a club tail. Its discovery in 2011 in an ancient marine environment was surprising, because the animal is wild.
The presence of giant sea-eaters on land preserved at the bottom of ancient seas is not as uncommon as one might think. a a number of other ankylosaurs It has been maintained as such, although it is not from the northern forest. Scientists suspect that his body may have been washed from the river into the sea during a flood; It probably bobbled on the surface upside down for several days before sinking to the ocean depths.
It would be retained on the surface by what is referred to as “bulge and buoyancy”, as postmortem gas accumulation would keep it afloat. Henderson’s modeling showed that its heavy carapace would have knocked it onto its back, a position he surmised could prevent marine predators from plundering the carcass.
As soon as the gas that kept him afloat was expelled, from the northern forest He sank to the bottom of the ocean, landing on his back.
“We can see that it entered the water more than 50 meters because it is preserved with a special mineral called glauconite, which is a green phosphate mineral. It only forms at low temperatures in waters that are deeper than 50 meters,” explained Dr. Henderson .
He also told Ars that these neighborhoods can also prevent garbage collection, saying, “Maybe it’s an area where [long-necked] Plesiosaurs and big fish don’t like to go. It was very cold and very dark, and… [there was] Nothing to eat. There are very few archaeological fossils in the surrounding sediments. So there’s not a lot of worms and crustaceans and shellfish and stuff in there to further digest. It’s just the good combination of conditions on the ocean floor that have very low biological activity that led to this conservation.”
Unfulfilled expectations
But nothing is known when the animal was found. While it’s not unusual to find dinosaur remains in marine environments, they’re not very common. Henderson and Darren Tank, also of the Royal Tyrrell Museum, walked to the site with full hope that they would unearth an ancient marine reptile.
The two have been consulted about fossil discoveries at other open pit mines in the area. However, this is their first visit to the Suncor mine in northeastern Alberta, Canada. Everything about this mine is phenomenal. The massive machine is constantly moving, picking up rock, sand, and gravel from the surrounding cliffs, while other equipment scrapes it away, all with the goal of digging the deep oil sands for fuel.
“It’s incredible, the scale of this place,” said Dr. Henderson. “And it lasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”
Despite the speed of the operation, one of the dredge operators, Sean Funk, noticed something after removing most of the cliff. Thanks to him and many people in Suncor’s operations in the area stopped and Royal Tyrrell was alerted.
