This dinosaur fossil is touted as the best condition in the world. Originally, in March 2011, Shawn Funk, operator of Suncor Energy's Millennium mine in Fort McMurray, Canada, was digging the banks of a large river when he stumbled upon Alberta's oldest and one of the best-preserved dinosaur fossils.
"Right away we knew the fossil was going to be something good," said Don Henderson, curator of dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alta.
Quoted by us from the Guardian, in 2017, 110 million years after it died, the nodosaur type dinosaur was displayed in a Canadian museum after being reconstructed. It is called Borealopelta markmitchelli.
"Usually when we find dinosaur fossils, we only have skeletons, bones. We have to use our imagination to reconstruct what they looked like," said Caleb Brown, researcher at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Alberta.
"In this case, we are very lucky because not only is the bone, we have all the armor in the shell, the osteoderm is preserved, we also have all the skin preserved in three dimensions," he said.
The fossil literally glimpses the dinosaur exactly as it looked millions of years ago, a giant herbivore that had spikes in its skin to protect it.
Initially, the spikes were thought to have been used against other Borealopelta, but Victoria Arbor, curator of paleontology at the Royal BC Museum, believes the weapon could have been used for warfare and status within the species.
"It can also be a signal to your partner that you are in good health," he said. Borealopelta's large shoulder 'spikes' can be worn much like bull horns or elephant tusks, for defense when necessary but also indicators of status and strength.
Not only that, scientists can trace the food content in his stomach. It is believed the nodosaur was washed out to sea after being swept away by a flood, while feeding on trees. As it sank, it likely created an impact crater and was quickly covered with sediment.
"Because it was buried so quickly, there was nothing to scavenge for the animal and it didn't decompose much before it actually became a fossil," said Brown.