Random Thoughts

[Angrboda]

For Boru....

On the second floor of Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum, the skeleton of an older, ganglier cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex stands tall. But if the creature were alive today, it might be limping. More than 70 million years ago, this Gorgosaurus would have been an apex predator in what are now the badlands of Montana and western Canada. Apex doesn't mean invincible, though. The animal's right shin is a mess of broken bone that healed over in life.

What broke the poor tyrannosaur's leg? Short of hopping in a time machine, researchers can't be sure. But elsewhere in the same museum, visitors can get a glimpse of one of the best—and most exquisite—suspects in this Cretaceous cold case.

Meet Zuul crurivastator, a new species of ankylosaurid that's also the most complete fossil of its kind ever found in North America. In life, the animal was a 20-foot-long living tank bristling with armor and weighing as much as a white rhinoceros. In death, its hulking fossil is amazingly well-preserved from its snout to its sledgehammer-like tail—the perfect weapon for delivering bone-shattering damage.

While Zuul's discovery was announced in May 2017, the fossil skull and tail were unveiled to the public on December 15 as part of a new museum exhibit. It's a multimedia extravaganza, featuring a full-size model of the fossil, a huge animation of Zuul in action, and even educational arcade games. (See pictures from an exhibit in New York that showcased dinosaurs in all their feathered glory.)

The rest of the fossil is still being unlocked from its sandstone tomb in a much more sedate warehouse about a hundred miles east of the museum.

(National Geographic)