December 3, 2007
Important mummified dino find
A high school student hunting fossils in the badlands of his native North Dakota discovered an extremely rare mummified dinosaur that includes not just bones but also seldom seen fossilized soft tissue such as skin and muscles, scientists will announce today.More about this amazing find in the Washington Post. More at National Geographic.The 25-foot-long hadrosaur found by Tyler Lyson in an ancient river flood plain in the dinosaur-rich Hell Creek Formation is apparently the most complete and best preserved of the half-dozen mummified dinosaurs unearthed since early in the last century, they said.
Posted by David on December 3, 2007 10:38 AM
"Mummified" is probably an understandable exaggeration of "fossilized" - albeit it may be correct, extraction from the encasing rock is not yet complete and - who knows at this stage - some internal structure may qualify.
While not yet peer-reviewed (some is undergoing review at the moment) this find has already [potentially] altered some views, e.g. the body seems wider than predicted - albeit I wonder if this was from gaseous bloating before the surrounding material had "set" or solidified enough to allow expansion.
Posted by: teqjack on December 3, 2007 2:47 PM
thet also found scales
Posted by: kibm on December 6, 2007 5:23 PM
The fossils are mummified in the sense that the dead carcasses were dried (likely rapidly) befoe scavengers or the elements had attacked the remains. Truly mummified dinosaus, with skin and even dried muscle tissue are known. The process of fossilizing is usually permineralization, original bone and added mineral matter filling bone spaces. Usually calcium carbonate or iron carbonate is the mineralizing material.
Posted by: Donald Wolberg on December 15, 2007 11:49 PM
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