Hours after Borealopelta enjoyed its last meal, the dinosaur somehow got swept out to sea. The dinosaur’s undersea burial in what's now northern Alberta, Canada, preserved its armor—and its stomach contents—in exquisite detail.

A dinosaur with impressive armored plates across its back became mummified around 110 million years ago after enjoying one last meal before dying.

And now we know what it ate for its last meal.

Dinosaur stomachs and evidence of their diets are rarely preserved. Occasionally, seeds and twigs have been found in the guts of dinosaur remains, but never conclusive evidence about the actual plants.

In this case, a muddy tomb encased and preserved the dinosaur so well that even its stomach contents remain to tell us that it was a picky eater.

The details of this dinosaur's plant-based diet were published Tuesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

"The leaf fragments and other plant fossils were preserved down to the cells," said David Greenwood, study coauthor, Brandon University biologist and University of Saskatchewan adjunct professor, in an email.

The nodosaur, known as Borealopelta markmitchelli, was found in 2011 during mining operations north of Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada.

After its death, the dinosaur's remains ended up in what was an ancient sea, landing on its back in the muddy sea floor and remaining undisturbed until nine years ago.

It's been on display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta since 2017. The fossil was unveiled after museum technician Mark Mitchell dedicated six years to painstakingly revealing the dinosaur's preserved skin and bones from the marine rock in which it was encased.

In life, the dinosaur — a type of ankylosaur — weighed more than a ton. But it lived off of plants and favored ferns, based on the contents of its stomach. The chunk resembling its stomach is about the size of a soccer ball.

"The finding of the actual preserved stomach contents from a dinosaur is extraordinarily rare, and this stomach recovered from the mummified nodosaur by the museum team is by far the best-preserved dinosaur stomach ever found to date," said Jim Basinger, study coauthor and University of Saskatchewan geologist, in a statement.

"When people see this stunning fossil and are told that we know what its last meal was because its stomach was so well preserved inside the skeleton, it will almost bring the beast back to life for them, providing a glimpse of how the animal actually carried out its daily activities, where it lived, and what its preferred food was."

This discovery sheds light on definitive evidence of what a large herbivorous dinosaur ate — in this case, a lot of chewed-up fern leaves, some stems and twigs. The details of the plants were so well preserved in the stomach that they could be compared to samples taken from modern plants today.

"We could see the different layers of cells in a leaf fragment including the epidermis with the pores, called stomata, through which plants take in carbon dioxide," Greenwood said. "We could also see the surface patterning of the epidermis cells, which was like a jigsaw pattern that we see on many living ferns."

One picky eater
This discovery changed what the researchers know about the diet of such large herbivores, and the plant material revealed more about the dinosaur's interactions with its environment.

This nodosaur was picky. The researchers compared the contents of its stomach with fossil leaf studies from the same time period and region. The nodosaur specifically ate the soft leaves of certain ferns and largely neglected common cycad and conifer leaves.

Overall, they found 48 microfossils of pollen and spores including moss and liverwort, 26 club mosses and ferns, two flowering plants and 13 conifers.

"The lack of horsetails, and rarity of cycads and conifers is surprising, given that these are very common in the surrounding flora," said Caleb Marshall Brown, study author and curator of dinosaur systematics and evolution at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, in an email.

"Even within ferns, it looks like Borealopelta may have had a preference for certain types of ferns, while ignoring others."

The preservation of the plant material in its stomach suggested that the dinosaur died and was buried soon after eating. Based on the growth rings and maturity of some of the plant material, the researchers were able to determine that the dinosaur's death likely occurred between late spring to mid-summer, Brown said.

With a side of charcoal
Then there's the matter of charcoal, which was also found in its stomach. That likely meant that it was grazing in an area hit by wildfires.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/02/world/nodosaur-fossil-stomach-contents-scn-trnd/index.html

Wasting alot of money chasing this..


Is not even clout




MODIFIED
On a serious note, I have making ftc like crazy, and I have been waiting for the money the give to people that make ftc.

Who should I send my bank account details to?

Scientists with their Carbon 14, Carbon dating bullcrap.
Extraordinary bullcraps, only valid until another bullcrap invalidates the former.
Continue searching, you would never discover anything of tangible relevance to your search, you would only end up more confused and misinformed every time.

As a human, you would always have to believe in one shit or another, either the religious shit or the scientific shit. No side seems to be devoid of shits, except that one shit is obviously the way to go, while the other is nothing more than futile bullcrap.

It's more sensible to believe the allegory of a snake talking in a garden than theories of how fish turned into man;
It's more sensible to believe this masterpiece universe is designed and fabricated by a creative, wise, intelligent, supernatural mind than to believe it created itself and exists on it's own. More ridiculously originated from a tiny bang. You don't mean it?
It's more sensible to believe a path that tells us the purpose and future of the world, not one which doesn't know why we're here, where we're coming from and where we're heading to.
It's sensible to believe a great designer somewhere knows a lady should have two breasts, curvy figure and thinner voice, while the man should be more masculine with thicker voice. Or you mean nothing figured that out and also fabricated it?
All these are very shallow details by the way. It would take some tangible time to describe the minutest parts of life and infinite time for the whole vast universe.

Life is no doubt a great masterpiece of art, epitome of extraordinary creativity, climax of skillful fabrication, nexus of complex functionality and unbelievable compatibility of distinct contrasting vastness.

Science is only good in fabricating inanimate objects and making life better, that is where it belongs and it should strictly stick to that. But when atheist scientists come explaining cardinal aspects of life with science. I tell them, never mind, because you really suck at that.

Some people would mock you for being so gullible for believing in a sky daddy, until later you realize who is really more gullible.

They should stop all this stupid and nonsense jor...na 1 trillion years no be 110millìon years...

Pls can we see its last Urine??

110 Million years ago. Wonderfulment.

Dinosaur even senior Jesus Christ.

Una wehdone

All these scientists na to discover wetin no go help man pikin na dem sabi

decatalyst:
Please what about it last shit?


Between these scientists and a certain information minister, I don't know who lie pass.

Dont mind them. Always discovering the unrealistics. Just watch as those stupid atheists will attack ur mention.

All those epistles on top last food? Is it the famous last supper?

***modified***
Cheers

Damnnnnn niggarrr
Isoright

Hmmm, awon Dinosaur Yi Sha

Wetin science no go dig out.

This carbon dating or so is becoming as rediculous as religion

Hmmm

This one na Godzilla o

wetin Musa no go see inside Jurassic park

daddytime:
110 Million years ago. Wonderfulment.

Dinosaur even senior Jesus Christ.

Una wehdone

b4 nko

.

This one is just like Nigeria version of covid-19 some believe it's real some believe its not


Btw, Liverpool fans can check my signature.

.

If truly dinosaurs once existed and are now extinct, that means in hundreds of years to come cows may be extinct too

Lol

;Dthis is really nice..I have no doubts, cause I just discovered a 200 million years old ancient pot in my backyard..

There they go again....

Oyinbo!, you can lie.