Armored Dinosaur had a Bulletproof Vest
Many dinosaurs reliedon plate armor to keep them safe from predators. But one went so far as to growa ‘bulletproof vest’ over its plate armor. The best-preserved dinosaur fossilon record is a type of ankylosaur called a nodosaur. The nodosaur was a herbivorethat grew 18 feet long and lived 110 to 112 million years ago. One of thesefossils was so well preserved, scientists were able to determine the strengthof its keratin plates and the bony spikes that covered them. It is estimatedthat the nodosaur could survive a crash with an F150 pickup that was going atspeed.
Usually, only the bonyspikes remained on other armored dinosaur fossils, because keratin (dead cellsthat form structures like hair and fingernails) doesn’t fossilize well. So whenpaleontologists studied armored dinosaurs in the past, they assumed the mainprotection came from the bony structures, which they thought might have beencovered by a thin layer of keratin like a turtle shell.
In 2017, anexceptionally well-preserved fossil was discovered in a mine in Alberta,Canada. The fossil was so well preserved that researchers could analyze thecolor of its armor and even look into its stomach to see its last meal.
There was a keratinlayer over the bones, but it was much thicker than anticipated. It was over 6inches thick in some places. The keratin sheath over a modern cattle horn isonly 0.6 inches thick. The keratin sheath would allow for flexibility and couldeasily be removed if it got damaged. It would be like trimming a broken nailinstead of needing to heal a broken bone.
This armor couldwithstand much more force than predators of the time could deliver, whichsuggests the armor may have been used during fights between males who werevying for female mates.
This research alsoreveals new insight into dinosaur armor in general. It is likely that otherarmored dinosaurs also had thick keratin sheaths. And those with armored andweaponized faces and heads were probably using a lot more keratin than is normallymodeled.
