fossilisation is an incredibly difficult process . Conditions involve to be very specific for a deceased organism to last for tens of millions of years . bump even large bones can be super unmanageable , while finding imprint of soft tissue paper is the equivalent of tally the paleontological kitty . Phil Bell and his squad from the University of New England in Australia did just that when they discovered the fossil of a duck - billed dinosaur with a cock - like comb on top of its head . The results were bring out inCurrent Biology .
The fogy was see in Canada and go to the speciesEdmontosaurus regalis , which lived 73 - 65.5 million years ago . Dinosaurs in this genus are non - avian and they have a duck’s egg - like bill , go to the name hadrosaurus . From peak to give chase , these were closely 40 feet ( 12 time ) long . Also , it now appears that they had an ornamental comb on top of their heads .
Because hide impressions are so rare , the inquiry teamwasn’t even looking for them . The large boulder that check the fossil as being edit into firearm that were more manageable to investigate when the diffuse tissue embossment was spot . There is a startling amount of clarity in the picture , which give the team a very unequalled chance to analyze soft tissue structures . The skin has a pebble - like grain , which is like to modern day crocodiles . The tissues around the skull were also very well preserve , which is exceedingly rare . Because this specimen was so well - preserved , the scientists were able to deduce that it had afleshy crown on top of the head .
Some birds have a fleshy comb on top of their psyche that is used for attract a mate , which conduct researchers to believe thatE. regalismay have also have used the structure for the same design . It was n’t like other crests on dinosaurs that were bony and may have offer protective cover or sound elaboration . There were seeable wrinkles in the stamp , which allows scientists to know that it was able to shut down and flex . Since combs are found in both grammatical gender of chick , this uncovering does n’t allow scientists to decipher anything in that attentiveness of the specimen .
to find out if all hadrosaurs had these comb or if it was specific to justE. regalis , more specimens with well - keep soft tissues would need to be examine . Of course , this is a very tall order and there is the potential that other similar fossil simply do n’t exist . Researchers are hopeful that they will be able-bodied to learn more about these crests and get a better discernment of the creatures that roamed the Earth 65 million years before us .
