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Petrified Dinosaur Found in Canada - Yazata - May 13, 2017

A complete petrified dinosaur has been found at a mining site in northern Alberta. It isn't just dinosaur bones, it's the whole thing including soft tissues.

It was apparently a large Nodosaur, a bulky armored plant-eater common in the Cretaceous that got caught near a river during a flood at a time when the area east of what is now the Rockies was an inland subtropical sea (apparently the coast was heavily wooded with conifers). The dinosaur got washed out to sea, died and was embalmed in the mud on the ocean floor near the river-mouth. Now the same area is high-plains in western Canada but the dinosaur's remains were still there in the sedimentary rock. This example was about 18 feet long and weighed 3,000 pounds in life, so it war pretty big. They say that even some of this dinosaur's anatomical features are petrified in there, tendons and things. They were only able to extract the front half of the specimen, but it's still the best fossil Nodosaur ever found.

The Nodosauridae taxonomic group which contained multiple genera appeared before 150 million years ago and lasted until the dinosaurs disappeared about 66 million years ago. That period extends from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous. So they were around a long time in various models and options. This particular individual lived about 110 million years ago.

The fossil has been handed over to the paleontologists at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta:

http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/about/a_brief_history.htm

The story is here:  

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/06/dinosaur-nodosaur-fossil-discovery/

A photo of its head is here, with its heavily armored back behind:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/magazine/rights-exempt/2017/06/Nodosaur/nodosaur-fossil-canadian-mine-face.jpg

And an artist's impression of what one of these nodosaurs might have looked like alive is here (note the similarity to the petrified specimen, the artist got it pretty much right):

http://dontmesswithdinosaurs.com/wp-content/uploads/MCDTPaleoscape-MediaNodosaur.jpg

Here's Wikipedia's short little article on the Nodosauridae:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nodosauridae


RE: Petrified Dinosaur Found in Canada - Magical Realist - May 14, 2017

This is amazing! It reminds me of one of my favorite dinosaurs I had in my collection when I was a kid--the Ankylosaurus:


[Image: ankylosaurus-info-graphic.png]
[Image: ankylosaurus-info-graphic.png]




RE: Petrified Dinosaur Found in Canada - C C - May 14, 2017

(May 13, 2017 11:23 PM)Yazata Wrote: A complete petrified dinosaur has been found at a mining site in northern Alberta. It isn't just dinosaur bones, it's the whole thing including soft tissues.


In terms of ready acceptance or avoiding Piltdown Skepticism... Thank goodness it was Canada rather the unofficial Tabloid Empire of the World: Ancient UFO ‘Flying Saucer’ Found 40 Meters Below Ground By Miners In Siberia.[*]

- - - - - - - -

[*] Actually the latter looks like a non-fake and believable natural [chance] formation rather than the vessel of the tiny flying saucer crew that terrorized Agnes Moorehead.




RE: Petrified Dinosaur Found in Canada - Yazata - May 14, 2017

(May 14, 2017 05:03 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: This is amazing! It reminds me of one of my favorite dinosaurs I had in my collection when I was a kid--the Ankylosaurus:


[Image: ankylosaurus-info-graphic.png]
[Image: ankylosaurus-info-graphic.png]


Apparently Nodosaurs are a variety of Ankylosaurs.

The Nodosauridae are a family in the Ankylosauria suborder

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankylosauria

The Nodosaurs lacked the characteristic Ankylosaur club at the end of its tail, but their skin was spikier and they had longer snouts.

(It's fun to read Wikipedia and learn about these things.)