Borealopelta markmitchelli, a 2,900-pound armor-plated dinosaur, has lived on our planet back 110 million years ago and used leafy greens as its daily nurture. A recent finding of a preserved stomach of this species has been registered to be the most well-preserved dinosaur stomach that has ever been found. The study was conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Saskatchewan, the leading analyst being Jim Basinger. All their findings can be found in the Royal Society Open Science journal.
The best-preserved dinosaur stomach was discovered nine years ago in a mine in Canada. As years have passed by, the stomach has been displayed in the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Canada since 2017. The fossil is named after the technician that has worked the most to reveal the fossil and uncover it from the rock it was embedded in, Mark Mitchell.
David Greenwood, a biologist, working at the Brandon University, has declared that extracting certain parts of the stomach for careful analysis was a breathtaking process. Scientists were amazed by how well-preserved the thin sections of the stomach were since they were able to find concentrated plan material by using only a microscope.
In the end, researchers have concluded that this dinosaur has a particular choice of meals. It turns out that the last meal before dying was composed of fern leaves and a mix of stems and twigs. However, its normal dietary requirements go far beyond that, since the charcoal found suggests that its daily dose of energy was hand-picked from areas where vegetation was regenerating after wildfires.
According to the plants found in its stomach, the dinosaur has seen the end of the world somewhere between spring and summer. Consequently, this research has become a milestone in identifying nutritious habits of a herbivorous dinosaur for a large size. Isn’t it stunning how one’s last meal can tell the story of its life?
