Detection of 67 million-year-old dinosaur fossils

A North Dakota high school student discovered a 67 million-year-old dinosaur fossil skeleton believed to be the most intact today. Fossils including skin and tendons have helped scientists simulate the organism's muscles, a previously difficult task.

Archaeological team led by paleontologist Phil Manning of Manchester University of England conducted an excavation of this dinosaur in 2006 but the discovery was only recently obtained by the National Geographic Community, the main donor unit. for excavation work, for recent publication.

Discovered dinosaurs belonging to Hadrosaur dinosaurs, a bipedal dinosaur with a speculum-shaped skull. According to Matthew Carrano, dinosaur researcher at the Smithsonian Research Institute, dinosaur mummies similar to this case are extremely few and very rare cases of success in building three-dimensional images of the whole body. .

Hadrosaurs dinosaurs are about 7-9 meters long, with the tallest hips on the body, reaching 1.8 to 2.4 meters. They lived at the same time as T. Rex before the dinosaurs died.

The fossils of this dinosaur are quite common, but their bodies are special cases because they die and are quickly buried in a river full of minerals.The fossil remains are almost intact, so complete that scientists can judge the number of muscles in the tail section; Helping scientists rebuild its body structure with 3-dimensional images .

Fossil skin of the Hadrosaurs dinosaur (Photo: National Graphic)

In 1999, 17-year-old high school student Tyler Lyson discovered the fossil during a hunt for fossils near his home in Marmarth, North Dakota state. When he found three caudal bones in the cliff, Tyler said it was the only remaining part of the fossil because the body was long gone. Tyler went to university paleontology and when he returned with an archaeological team, he discovered that the tail was slipping out of the rock, and the dinosaur fossil remains intact and deep. in the rock.

The archaeological team had to dig a road to remove the mass of rock weighing more than 3 tons of fossil. This stone block was then moved to a NASA lab located in Canoga Park, California. Scientists use tomography machines to create three-dimensional images inside fossils. This is a common method in paleontology, though rarely applied to fossils at this size.

Data building work is still underway, but new information about this species is gradually being revealed.

The hindquarters of the Hadrosaur seem to be 25% larger than the scientists' judgment, making it capable of running at 43 km / h, about 16 km / h faster than T. rex. The fossil skin shows that the stripes on the Hadrosaur's body may be camouflaged.

3D image of the dinosaur fossil of Hadrosaur species, lived 67 million years ago.(Photo: National Graphic)