Leonardo
The remarkably well-preserved duck-billed dinosaur fossil known as Leonardo was found in Phillips County, Montana, in 2000. How well-preserved is Leonardo? He’s listed in the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records as the Best Preserved Dinosaur. Fossilized skin covers the dinosaur’s remains — more than 90% of the mummy dinosaur is covered with skin impressions that show its scales were small and of a polygonal shape; the remains of a beak made of keratin are visible; and study of the animal’s stomach showed preserved plant material as well as evidence of stomach parasites.
In the course of studying Leonardo, the fossil was digitally scanned to create a rapid prototype of the dinosaur. This replica of Leonardo is on display at the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum in Malta, Montana — the fossil itself is currently undergoing study of its insides at the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum in Fukui, Japan. Leonardo will eventually return home to the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum.
The Dueling Dinosaurs
This incredible fossil discovery is actually the remains of two dinosaurs: an adult T. rex and a Triceratops horridus. The exceptionally well-preserved skeletons are approximately 67 million years old and are positioned in a way that indicates they were fighting when they died. The skeletons, uncovered in 2006, are nearly complete and, like Leonardo, feature skin impressions. Not only does the find give researchers clues about the dinosaurs’ anatomy, it is helping scientists understand the animals’ behavior, including predation and combat.
Though these fossils were recovered in Missouri River Country in the Hell Creek geological formation near Jordan, Montana, they were acquired in 2020 by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Luckily, you can see a small replica of the fossil on display at the Garfield County Museum in Jordan.
