Learning All About The Nodosaur

Chemical tests were performed on the tissues which were found on this skeleton which told them that this species had horns which must have been lighter in color. But there was more this skeleton has to teach the scientists. Every day the scientists were finding new information about the species. It was because even after so many years it was still in a good condition.

Armed And Ready

“I’ve been calling this one the Rosetta stone for armor,” said Donald Henderson who is a Curator of Dinosaurs. According to the scientists, when you are reconstructing the dinosaur’s armor there is a lot of information you can find about the species and the past they lived in. This skeleton which they had in the lab was like a jackpot because the armor was still there. During the decay process, there are chances that this armor falls off. What else they found out?

More About Nodosaurs

Though the scientists have an idea about the Ankylosaur having trunks, skeletons don’t tell anything about the skin of the creature. But this skeleton was special. “What we thought this animal looked like based on the skeleton is what it actually looked like,” said Arbour.

A Well-Preserved Specimen

The osteoderms of this species are in place, and moreover, are well preserved. Amazingly, in some of the osteoderms, the scientists even found the traces of keratin, which is the stuff from which human nails are made of. Because of the keratin, the paleontologists are able to suggest the reason behind its size and weight. There is a lot this fossil has to teach but it was a tough road ahead.

Please Handle With Care

Mark Mitchell suggests that the process should be done at a slow pace. In a report which was published in National Geographic, Mitchell wrote about the work describing it, “like freeing compressed talcum powder from concrete.” As a token of gratitude this fossil has been given a formal name as “Borealopelta markmitchelli.” Mark knows that there are still so many problems that are needed to be solved before they could tell more about it.

The Last Supper

“We don’t just have a skeleton, we have a dinosaur as it would have been,” told Caleb Brown, a Ph.D. researcher at the Royal Tyrrell Museum to National Geographic. The scientists have been working on to find out about the last meal this creature had before he was washed away. But there is a problem, the armor has been very helpful that has taught a lot about the species it has also created several problems for the scientists.