Incredibly Odd Dinosaur Skeleton From Over 82 Million Years Ago Found in Mississippi Remains Nearly Intact

The most complete fossils of dinosaurs ever found in Mississippi are still 85% buried since it was found in 2007.

The creature falls under the hadrosaur family, which includes duck-billed and vegetarian dinosaurs from over 82 million years ago.

Hadrosaur Fossils

Pieces of the forearm, spinal vertebrae, pelvic bones, and feet of the specimen have been secured by the researchers. However, the rest of its fossils have been hard to uncover from its location.

The animal's first pieces were unearthed back in 2007. Since then, roughly 15% of the skeleton has been gathered.

Experts say that the hadrosaur is a huge family that consists of giant herbivores. This family includes at least 61 individuals and identified species that could have had hundreds of unique kinds.

An example of dinosaurs that belong to the hadrosaur family is the Parasaurolophus, which has a backward-curving and long crest over its head.

For almost 20 years, the exact hadrosaur species in this Mississippi area have remained a mystery. Now, researchers have been using a 3D forensic bone analysis to uncover the mystery even before the fossils have been unearthed completely.

Identifying the Hadrosaur

Derek Hoffman, a geology graduate student from the University of Southern Mississippi, is examining the remains of the hadrosaur using such a method. Across various disciplines of scientific study, this approach is known as geometric morphometrics.

What it does is to take an approach of shape analysis. Some landmarks or key features are taken into account for a certain bone sample as well as their own distances. The distance ratios are also compared through complex statistical models in order to confirm similarities and differences to known bones.

Such an approach has also been effective in the field of anthropology and human evolution studies.

Hoffman's work mainly focuses on the publicly kept bones in the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science. These contain some foot bones, one humerus, one ulna (the forearm's posterior), and the pubis.

The ulna of the hadrosaur is roughly two feet in length, while its humerus is roughly one and a half feet in length. The foot bones of hadrosaurs may also go beyond a total weight of 50 pounds.

As for the creature's skull, it is yet to be located, much to the frustration of the researchers. The skull of the creature is the most distinct identifying feature when it comes to hadrosaur species differentiation.

Hoffan mainly focused on the pubis of the dinosaur. This part is the bone from the pelvis' front. It is the next best option for identifying the species of the fossils.

The graduate student hopes to narrow down the possible species of hadrosaurs that the fossil could be. What is currently known about the species is that it could have towered at a height of 16 feet when perched over its hind legs and that it could have been around 25 to 26 feet in length.

James Starnes, a state official of the Office of Geology at the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, expressed hopes that, though it took almost 20 years to unearth just a portion of the fossil, the projection may see completion one day.

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