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Two fossilized Edmontosaurus annectens from Wyoming preserve an unusually detailed outline of the duck-billed dinosaur’s exterior: a fleshy crest along its neck and trunk, a line of spikes over its hips and tail, pebbly scales, and hooves on its hind feet. The fossils are nicknamed “mummies,” but they contain no preserved skin or flesh. Instead, a clay template less than a millimeter thick records the animals’ outer surfaces.
What did the Wyoming fossils reveal about Edmontosaurus?
The two specimens, described as a late juvenile and an early adult, come from Wyoming’s end-Cretaceous “mummy zone.” Together, they preserve complementary parts of the animals’ external anatomy, giving researchers more specific boundaries for reconstructing how an Edmontosaurus looked.
- A fleshy midline crest extended from the neck across the trunk.
- A row of spikes continued over the hips and along the tail.
- The body was covered in small, pebble-like scales. Most measured 1–4 millimeters wide, according to the University of Chicago’s 2025 account.
- The hind feet had hooves; the larger specimen also preserves a fleshy heel pad.
The University of Chicago reports that Edmontosaurus could grow to more than 40 feet long. That is contextual information about the dinosaur, not a measurement of either newly described specimen.
What does “dinosaur mummy” mean?
Here, “mummy” describes a style of fossil preservation—not a carcass with original skin or flesh intact. The fossils preserve a clay template, less than one millimeter thick, that records skin texture, spikes, and hooves. The indexed abstract of the 2026 Science study reports no preserved soft tissues or organic compounds.
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- Edmontosaurus belongs to the hadrosaur family, a giant herbivorous dinosaur that lived during the late Cretaceous period。
- Edmontosaurus has a flat, broad front, a duck-like mouth and nose, and a long, narrow tail.
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The clay layer is an impression-like record of the exterior. It gives paleontologists evidence about the animals’ shape and surface features, but it is not dinosaur tissue and does not reveal their color.
How do researchers think the dinosaur mummies formed?
Based on CT imaging, thin sections, X-ray spectroscopy, clay analyses, and evidence from the discovery site, the authors propose a sequence for how the template formed:
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- The carcass dried out after death.
- Flood deposits suddenly buried it.
- A biofilm on the carcass surface attracted clay from the sediment, creating a thin layer that recorded the outside surface.
- The skeleton fossilized while the carcass’s organic material decayed, leaving the clay template behind.
This is the researchers’ reconstruction of the process, not a sequence directly observed as it happened. The site is called a “mummy zone,” but that name does not establish that clay templating happened only there. The University of Chicago suggests looking for similar fossils in these strata and elsewhere.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What can the fossils—and their limits—tell us?
The specimens add anatomical evidence that can guide reconstructions of Edmontosaurus, including the extent of its fleshy midline, the continuation of its spikes, and the structure of its feet. Their complementary preservation helps build a fuller profile, but differences between a late juvenile and an early adult should not, by themselves, be treated as proof that a feature changed with age.
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The fossils do not show the dinosaur’s color, and “mummy” does not mean soft tissue survives today. The American Museum of Natural History separately describes its displayed duck-billed dinosaur mummy as a fossilized imprint; it notes skin tubercles that are larger on the back and sides and smaller near flexible joints. That historic specimen is not one of the two Wyoming fossils.
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Sources
- University of Chicago News, “UChicago paleontologists unveil duck-billed dinosaur ‘mummies’” (October 24, 2025)
- Sereno et al., “Duck-billed dinosaur fleshy midline and hooves reveal terrestrial clay-template ‘mummification’,” Science 391(6780), January 2026
- American Museum of Natural History, “Duck Billed Dinosaur Mummy”
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