Last meal of 110-million-year-old Armored dinosaur discovered in detail

[FfFfFfFF 41,589]

On a summer day 110 million years ago, an armoured dinosaur likely ambled through the remains of a wildfire in what is now Alberta, Canada, gobbling up delicate green ferns peeking out from the ash. Somehow, shortly after, the dinosaur ended up dead in a river among the Cretaceous landscape and was swept out to sea. The ancient creature remained entombed in marine sediments until 2011, when an oil-sands miner stumbled across the remains: the best-preserved dinosaur of its kind ever discovered.

“The preservation is just so great, we can actually say something about the stomach contents,” says lead study author Caleb Brown, the a dinosaur curator at Alberta’s Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology.

The dinosaur’s improbable burial at sea in what is now northern Alberta preserved its body in impeccable detail. Not only does its bony armour remain intact, but many of the keratin sheaths that covered it also fossilised, providing possible evidence of its skin color.

By comparing the Gates Formation plant fossils with those in Borealopelta, the team concluded that the short-limbed animal grazed for low-growing plants. The majority of its diet seems to have been a particular type of fern that it apparently sought out, ignoring other available vegetation. In addition, about six percent of the gut contents were bits of charcoal, a possible sign that Borealopelta was grazing on regrowth in an area recently hit by wildfires.

Further clues found in the tree rings of woody twigs that Borealopelta ate suggest that the dinosaur ingested the plants about halfway through their growing season, which would have lasted from late spring to the height of summer.

In addition, the ferns Borealopelta ate had mature sporangia, the spore-launching organs on the undersides of the leaves. Taken together, the data suggest that Borealopelta ate its final meal in early to mid-summer—and died mere hours afterward.

Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/science-and-technology/2020/06/armoured-dinosaurs-last-meal-preserved-in-stunning-detail

[Killa 11,494]

This might be my fav thread ever. Omg im overwhelmed

[Adarsh 26,249]

I just know someone is going to make a Madonna joke 

Edited June 4, 2020 by Adarsh

[Chromatislaps 32,040]

8 minutes ago, Adarsh said:

I just know someone is going to make a Madonna joke 

no we don't need someone to do that, she does a great job herself

[voltron92 251]

20 minutes ago, Adarsh said:

I just know someone is going to make a Madonna joke 

She looks pretty here

[Adarsh 26,249]

6 minutes ago, Chromaticlaps said:

no we don't need someone to do that, she does a great job herself

What was your old username? 

[Chromatislaps 32,040]

4 minutes ago, Adarsh said:

What was your old username? 

Derpplause  but I updated my applause-style username to something more updated:

Chromati-claps

Edited June 4, 2020 by Chromaticlaps

[Adakam 2]

25 minutes ago, Adarsh said:

I just know someone is going to make a Madonna joke 

Im not well versed enough in paleontology to come up with a joke that compares two dinosaurs.

Anyway, on topic, this is amazing

[Chromatislaps 32,040]

5 minutes ago, Adakam said:

Im not well versed enough in paleontology to come up with a joke that compares two dinosaurs.

Anyway, on topic, this is amazing

BITCH I-

[Blond 5,715]

22 minutes ago, Chromaticlaps said:

Derpplause  but I updated my applause-style username to something more updated:

Chromati-claps

Chromatic laps 

[BlackCrown 1,794]

This is amazing, seeing how well it has been preserved from the damages of time

[Chromatislaps 32,040]

29 minutes ago, Blond said:

Chromatic laps 

be happy it's not Chromatic-flaps

[Chromatislaps 32,040]

18 minutes ago, BlackCrown said:

This is amazing, seeing how well it has been preserved from the damages of time

Truly the definition of a CLASSIC

[brownie 4]

58 minutes ago, Chromaticlaps said:

Chromati-claps

Spoiler

Is this what you call the STD you get from hooking up with the craiglist little monsters selling themselves for iTunes single purchases? 

 

[Da J 1,293]

If MC Donalds existed at the time, the burger would still be there.