Scientists Discover Hooves and Skin in Preserved Dinosaur "Mummies!"
A Preserved Hoof of Edmontosaurus!
Post Author- Ellis Nolan
A dinosaur discovery just in time for Halloween! In a new analysis of a group of fossils from Wyoming, Scientists have determined this group of fossils are dinosaur “mummies,” with preserved skin and even hooves.
The fossils in question are from the duck billed dinosaur species Edmontosaurus annectens, and were first uncovered in 1908. These dinosaurs subsisted on plants during the Late Cretaceous Period and were originally thought to have been water-dwelling. On the contrary, this newer examination of the fossils has shown that these dinosaurs are the first tetrapods (four limbed animals) with hooves. Not only that but the researchers also discovered tail spikes on these specimens, another first for duck-billed dinosaurs.
The story behind the discovery of these fossils is also quite appropriate for Halloween. In 1908, fossil hunter Charles Hazelius Sternberg and his three sons set out towards Wyoming with the goal of finding a Triceratops skeleton for the British Museum. For weeks, the search was unsuccessful, until the party came across a horn protruding from the rocks. Miraculously, this fossil turned out to be a triceratops skull, which the Sternbergs excavated and sold to the British Museum. However, the hunters also came across more fossils further away that they originally believed to also belong to the Triceratops. Charles Sr. left his sons George and Levi to excavate the rest of the fossils, while he purchased more supplies.
While excavating what they now knew was not a triceratops, the brothers ran out of food, subsisting on only potatoes for two days before their father returned. Furthermore, while slowly removing bits of rock from the fossil, George was frightened by the fossil’s characteristic skin impressions; he would later write the night after excavating the fossil he did not sleep.
The researchers in this most recent study believe the dinosaur was preserved because of thin layers of clay that accumulated over the dinosaur body, an unusual way for fossil tissue to be preserved. Readers can rest assured, though, this mummy won’t be rising from the dead any time soon.
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