According to Caleb Brown, a curator at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, the pigment appeared to be concentrated on the animal’s back, allowing it to blend in with the surrounding environment.
The dinosaur’s armor was clearly a method of defense, but the elaborate horns protruding from the front of its body seemed to have dual purposes.
If necessary, they could have been used in defense, but mostly, they acted as indicators of status and strength, making them desirable to potential mates.
After examining the location where the fossil was found, the researchers determined that the nodosaurus had drifted out to sea and then come to rest on its back in the muck of the sea floor, which was how it was able to be preserved so well. While buried in sediment, its body was protected from decay and water pressure.
The remnants of its last meal even managed to remain in its stomach. The dinosaur’s last meal consisted of ferns and twigs that appeared to be in mid-growth.
This suggested that they were eaten during the wet season when heavy rainfall and extreme flooding might have occurred.
The nodosaur was not built for swimming, and the high water levels could have caught it by surprise, leading to it being swept away in a strong torrent.
The nodosaurus is on display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta. The exhibit places an emphasis on how collaboration between paleontologists and industries can result in extraordinary fossil findings.
