Wyoming dinosaur mummies give us a new view of duck-billed species
In a remarkable journey through time, paleontologists have revisited the site of the original Edmontosaurus annectens discovery, unearthing new specimens that are reshaping our understanding of this iconic duck-billed dinosaur. First discovered in 1908 by fossil collector C.H. Sternberg in east-central Wyoming, the initial Edmontosaurus skeleton, famously known as the “AMNH mummy,” provided a glimpse into the past with its scaly skin imprints preserved in sediment. Housed at the American Museum of Natural History, this specimen has long been a cornerstone in paleontological studies, yet it was only the beginning of a much larger story about this massive herbivore that roamed the earth toward the end of the Cretaceous period.
Fast forward over a century, and a research team led by Paul C. Sereno from the University of Chicago has made significant strides in understanding Edmontosaurus. Returning to the original excavation site, they discovered two additional mummies that are exceptionally well-preserved, featuring intricate details of the dinosaur’s external anatomy imprinted in a fine layer of clay. This groundbreaking find allows scientists to visualize Edmontosaurus with unprecedented accuracy, revealing specifics such as the size of its scales and the arrangement of spikes on its tail. These discoveries challenge earlier representations of the dinosaur, including Charles R. Knight’s 1909 illustration, which inaccurately depicted a crest running along the entire length of the body. The new findings promise to refine our understanding of this species, highlighting the importance of continuous research and the potential for new discoveries to alter long-held perceptions of prehistoric life.
Edmontosaurus annectens
, a large herbivore duck-billed dinosaur that lived toward the end of the Cretaceous period, was discovered back in 1908 in east-central Wyoming by C.H. Sternberg, a fossil collector. The skeleton, later housed at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and nicknamed the “AMNH mummy,” was covered by scaly skin imprinted in the surrounding sediment that gave us the first approximate idea of what the animal looked like.
More than a century later, a team of paleontologists led by Paul C. Sereno, a professor of organismal biology at the University of Chicago, got back to the same exact place where Sternberg dug up the first
Edmontosaurus
specimen. The researchers found two more
Edmontosaurus
mummies with all fleshy external anatomy imprinted in a sub-millimeter layer of clay. For the first time, we uncovered an accurate image of what
Edmontosaurus
really looked like, down to the tiniest details, like the size of its scales and the arrangement of spikes on its tail. And we were in for at least a few surprises.
Evolving images
Our view of
Edmontosaurus
changed over time, even before Sereno’s study. The initial
drawing
of
Edmontosaurus
was made in 1909 by Charles R. Knight, a famous paleoartist, who based his visualization on the first specimen found by Sternberg. “He was accurate in some ways, but he made a mistake in that he drew the crest extending throughout the entire length of the body,” Sereno says. The mummy Knight based his drawing on had no tail, so understandably, the artist used his imagination to fill in the gaps and made the
Edmontosaurus
look a little bit like a dragon.
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