Enormous 18-foot ‘dinosaur mummy’ that weighs 1.4 TONS is ‘best preserved dino on Earth’ – and dates back 100million years
A GIANT mummified dinosaur corpse found in Canada looks like it came straight from the set of Jurassic Park.
Found perfectly preserved with its scaly armour and guts still intact, the 110million-year-old fossil has been touted as the "best preserved dinosaur on Earth".
Now sitting in Canada's Tyrrell Museum, the incredible fossilised nodosaur was stumbled upon by miners in 2011.
The enormous plant-eating beast was 18ft long and weighed as much as a small car.
It's believed the huge beast drowned when it was swept out to sea during heavy flooding.
Scientists are baffled as to how it stay so well preserved for so long. The remains have been dubbed a genuine "dinosaur mummy".
"I’ve never seen anything like this."
Caleb Brown, a researcher at Tyrrell Museum, added: "We don’t just have a skeleton. We have a dinosaur as it would have been."
National Geographic published the first pictures of the ancient species in May 2017.
A Canadian heavy equipment operator discovered the stunning fossilised remains at a mine in Alberta, Western Canada.
It was then carefully dug out of the ground and handed over to scientists, who painstakingly exposed the beast's remains.
It was so pristine that scientists were able to study remnants of the skin that covered its bumpy armour plates.
Analysis of other fossils has shown that most dinosaurs had scaly skin, although some species including the vicious velociraptor, made famous in Jurassic Park, are believed to have sported feathers.
The 1.4-ton, plant-eating nodosaur is believed to have walked the Earth between 110 million and 112 million years ago.
Two 20-inch-long spikes stuck out of its shoulder, allowing it to defend itself against predators.
Although it's not clear whether the size of these spikes affected the beast's attractiveness to the opposite sex, it's thought that the combo of armour and barb was a key part of its mating ritual.
“This armour was clearly providing protection, but those elaborated horns on the front of its body would have been almost like a billboard,” Dr Vinther said.
Chemical tests have revealed traces of the dinosaur's pigment, leading scientists to suggest it was a reddish colour with lighter horns.
The monster's armour and natural weapons would have served the dual purpose of scaring enemies and attracting mates.
It may have used its spikes during battles to win the affection of a member of the opposite sex.
Normally, dinosaurs' armour is ruined during the process of decay and fossilisation.
But the nodosaur's bony plates and the scales between them have remained relatively intact.
Sheaths made of keratin - the substance human fingernails are made from - still coat the plates, which are called osteoderms.
These sheaths made the dinosaur look more scary and imposing by exaggerating the extent of its armour.
The nodosaur
Here's everything you need to know...
- The nodosaur was a giant plant-eating dinosaur.
- It roamed the Earth in the Cretaceous period, between 110 million and 112 million years ago.
- The nodosaur has been nicknamed "the four-legged tank".
- Experts think the dinosaur weighed up 1.4 tons, about the same as a small car.
- It could grow up to 18 feet long.
- The nodosaur was protected by a thick coat of armour plating.
- It used this, as well as 20-inch spikes on its shoulders, to defend itself from predators.
"I’ve been calling this one the Rosetta stone for armour," added Donald Henderson, curator of dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
The body of the nodosaur is thought to have washed up in a river, before being swept out to sea where its sunk into the mud.
Here it was encased in minerals which allowed its shape to be preserved whilst layers of rock covered it over millions of years.
Now, the fossilised dinosaur is on display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, so punters can decide for themselves whether this scaly beast's spikes and armour made it a lover - or a fighter.
In other news, a 6.5-foot thigh bone belonging to the "world’s biggest dinosaur" was recently found in France.
Earlier this year, palaeontologists uncovered a feathered flying dinosaur with long fingers and wings like a bat.
The first feather fossil ever found was linked to the ‘wrong bird’ for 150 years, but really belongs to mystery dinosaur.
What do you think of the dinosaur mummy? Let us know in the comments!
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.