A fun timelapse video of the preparation of a massive 4” wide lower molar of an adult Titanothere from the Chadron Formation of South Dakota. I found this on a trip this summer with
. The molar is a little weathered as it was exposed and sticking out of a cliff face when we found it. It’s actually prepped out really well though and has all its complete root system. Titanotheres or Brontotheriidae (also known as “Thunder Beasts”) were the massive horned herbivorous giants of North America during the Oligocene.
An armored dinosaur has been found in Alberta, so well-preserved that it looks like a statue. The specimen was preserved in 3D, perfectly hardening into sandstone, from its snout its hips. Paleontologists were able to determine, just by looking at it, that this discovery is also a new species.
So what did this new dinosaur look like? Well, according to the researchers, it is the “dinosaur equivalent of a tank.” It was 5.5 meters long (about 18 feet) and weighing more than 1,300 kilograms (or 2,800 pounds). There is ornamentation around its eyes, six-sides plates on the sides of its skull, and distinct alternating lines of spikes and scales along its back. The prickly skin even contains molecular clues suggesting it was reddish on its backside, and lighter on its underside! That’s a lot of detail about a species, all from one specimen.
The new dinosaur been named Borealopelta, or “northern shield.”
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