Scientists have uncovered fleshed-out imprints of a pair of hoofed dinosaurs in Wyoming. Hardened clay formed around the two young Edmontosaurs, preserving their skin contours and providing experts with unprecedented insight how they looked. The young 40-foot adult and a two-year-old juvenile died around 66 million years ago in the Cretaceous period. They have been referred to as “mummies” because clay preserved the soft tissues around the skeleton, creating a cast of their living form. Reuters reports it is “the most complete, fleshed-out view of a large dinosaur to date.” Study leader Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago wrote in Science, “We’re seeing the full profile of the dinosaur for the first time. We’re confident what it looked like.” He continued, “There’s no DNA, there’s no tissue structure, there’s nothing. It’s a clay mask.” A flash flood potentially covered them shortly after they died. Previously, scientists hadn’t thought it possible that mummification could happen to animals that lived on land. Reuters reports, “It is the first dinosaur, the first reptile and the first land vertebrate known to have evolved hooves.” Edmontosaurs were common, lived in herds, and were a favorite meal of the T. rex. “It’s not an animal that would be easy to take down. That’s why you needed something the size of Tyrannosaurus,” Sereno told Reuters.
