By Vania Raebel | October 9, 2019
A Cretaceous Mummy
While we tend to mostly imagine Wooly Mammoths and Sabertooth Tigers when we think of animals preserved in the icy wilderness, scientists have uncovered many more unusual things buried out there. In fact, a prehistoric beast that goes back as far as 110 million years ago was discovered just recently. Thanks to this amazing find, scientists have learned how a specific creature from the ice age defended itself from predators.
What you’re looking at here is the fossil of a nodosaur, a creature who lived during the Cretacious period (also known as the ice age). Back then, predation was rampant, and in order to survive, animals had to learn how to defend themselves well. As for the nodosaur, well, its body evolved into the uninviting, spiky, armored plate you see here. A pretty neat defense mechanism if you ask me.
