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Ankylosaur armor could likely withstand the impact of a in high spirits - amphetamine car collapse , the good - preserved dinosaur fossil on record has revealed .
The fossil belong to to a nodosaur , a plant - eating dinosaur that could grow to be 18 foot ( 5.5 meter ) long and survive about 110 to 112 million old age ago , during the Early Cretaceous . The fossil was so well preserved that scientists were able to determine the forcefulness of keratin plates and the bony ear that covered them .
An illustration of the nodosaurBorealopelta markmitchelli,which had defensive armor made of thick keratin sheaths over bony spikes.
" This thing could tank an F150 sound at speed , " work co - authorMichael Habib , a biomechanical paleontologist at UCLA , told Live Science . Habib deliver his findings on the nodosaur armor Oct. 30 at the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology ’s yearly meeting .
Only the bony capitulum remained on other fossils from armored dinosaur . This is because keratin — the dead cells that make up bodily structure like hair and fingernails — does n’t fossilise well . So , when research armored dinosaur like nodosaurs and Stegosaur stenops , paleontologists acquire that the dinosaur ' main protection from piranha came from the bony structures of armor go out behind in the fossil and that this armor may have been covered by a thin stratum of ceratin like a turtle shell .
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But in 2017 , anexceptionally well - preserved fossilof a newly identify species of nodosaur , Borealopelta markmitchelli , was chance in a mine in Alberta , Canada .
" It ’s stunningly beautiful , just extremely well preserved,“Emma Schachner , an evolutionary life scientist at the University of Florida who was not involved with the research , told Live Science . The dodo was so well conserve , research worker couldanalyze the colorof its armor and even look into its stomach tofind its last meal . No old armored dinosaur had been preserved well enough to keep the keratin intact .
The well - continue fossil did bring out a keratin layer over the bone , but much dense than anticipated — nearly 6.3 inches ( 16 centimeter ) in some places . In contrast , the keratin sheath over a modernistic cattle horn is only 0.6 ( 1.5 cm ) thick , Habib said .
By looking at the body structure and size of it of the ceratin sheath and compare them to the ceratin armour of modern animals , like the quills of a hedgehog , Habib and fellow worker calculate the amount of military group the nodosaur ’s armour could defy . The team also create man-made nodosaur armour for the CBC show"Dinosaur Cold Case"and tested the synthetic armour against the sharpness force produced by replicaAcrocanthosaurusjaws .
The calculation suggested that nodosaurs could belike handle over 125,000 joules of energy per satisfying meter — similar to the force of a in high spirits - speed car crash . " These animals were not wearing plate armor ; they were wearing a bulletproof vest over home plate armor , " Habib read .
This adaptation pass water sense , given their environment .
" Borealopeltais hold out in a macrocosm of big , essence - eating dinosaurs , " Habib said . " They could bite really hard . If you have very stiff , brittle armor that ’s relying on bone and you hit it really hard , it ’s going to collapse . "
or else , the keratin sheaths let for flexibility , and can easily be removed if it does get damaged — similar to trimming a broken nail rather of need to mend a living break in os .
The armor is so hard , it could hold out much more force than the vulture of its sentence could deliver . This suggests that the armor may have also been used during fights between Male compete for female mates , Habib said .
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" It ’s one of those enduring questions : Are they fighting each other , or are they fighting other animate being ? " Schachner sound out . " What they are determining is that it seems like it ’s more for animal - to - fauna combat , within the same species . "
This enquiry also reveals new insight into dinosaur armour in general . Most other armoured dinosaur also belike had thick keratin sheaths , and " horned dinosaur , with their armored and weaponized faces and heads — there ’s a very full chance they are using a lot more ceratin than is often modeled , " Habib said .
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