There are times when a person stumbles upon something extraordinary that has the ability to change the world. The same happened when this man who wasn't archeologist by profession made the discovery of the century that changed the way we see the world. This story is so interesting if someone tries his/her hands on making a film about it he/she won't regret the decision. You'll be surprised to see how things happened and this guy who was just doing his regular job that day discovered the most amazing thing that made some great scientists intervene. The scholars were left speechless as this was the first time they were seeing something like that which made them rethink about everything they knew about the past events.
This guy from Alberta, Canada was on his job working when he came face to face something unbelievable that changed everything for this guy. Unable to explain what it was as he was only seeing some parts of it, things were getting really out of his hands. He wanted to check what it was but was afraid to it. There have been several cases where people have found some unwanted things that led them into deep trouble. He was aware of that and decided to stay away from it. But curiosity kicked in and he made the most amazing discovery of the century.
After seeing some parts of it he couldn't tell what actually it was. At first, he thought it was some weird rock but he was wrong. He was taken aback by it but didn't dare to touch for an obvious reason. He knew that if somehow he won't see what it actually was he might not be able to sleep in the night. Mesmerized by that thing his feet started to move as if they have a mind of its own. The next moment he was washing off the sand from it and there it was...
Shawn Funk, a heavy machinery operator was doing the same job which he is been doing for twelve years with an energy company named Suncor. Though his job was tough he was happy, it was consistent and he loved his job. That day when he made this amazing discovery he was stationed at the Millennium Mine in Fort McMurray. He was doing his job when the machine he was operating hit something unusual.
Shawn's job wasn't an easy one as there have been times when there was a possibility that he could fall into a stupor while operating the huge machine that is used to cut through the layers of soil, sand, and rock. In his twelve years of the job, he hasn't seen anything interesting except one time he found some fossilized wood, which was not even close to what he found this time. Shawn looked into the bank below and was stunned to see that there was something unusual lying covered in sand. What did he see?
Curbing his curiosity he decided to tell his seniors about his discovery. He ran towards his manager who wasn't there He was out in the field inspecting the work. Shawn had to find him as soon as possible because there were other workers too who were working with Shawn and he didn't want them to touch it as it was something that can attract anybody. Though he made sure to cover it with the sand and parked his machine in such a way that blocked the area where he spotted that thing.
Shawn who was searching for his manager kept dodging his co-workers' question as they wanted to know why he was in a much of a hurry. He was running back and forth in the office searching every room and then somebody told him that the manager is out in the field. Shawn who didn't even hear the whole sentence ran towards the field and his manager could see Shawn running towards him and the manager realized it must be something urgent, so even he started running towards Shawn.
Doug Lacey, a Suncor project manager told the media persons, “When we started I saw grown men, long-term employees, showing up like kids on Christmas morning.” Shawn told Doug about that unusual thing, and the manager knew Shawn and if he came to him running like crazy then it must be something serious. He asked Shawn to calm down and they rushed towards that where he found that. Just like Shawn, Doug was in shock. Both of them were staring at that thing like it was some sort of alien ( was it an alien?).
Doug knew that this thing was out of his hands. He contacted the local authorities and told them about the discovery. The authorities were fast enough to take action on the report and in no time the area was sealed and nobody was allowed to enter it except Shawn as he was the one who discovered it. The police made sure that they keep the place untouched before the arrival of the experts. Shawn was excited but seeing so many police officers in one place he was scared too. But it was him who was destined to find it. But things don't always go the way we expect them to go...
The police authorities called in some experts who could tell what exactly that thing was that managed to create such a hype in no time. The experts were on the scene and started the investigation. Even the experts were shocked to find something this amazing in a place like this. But as they say, the world is a weird place and you can find anything here. The scientists who were expecting this thing didn't come with much of preparation had to wait a little longer before they could tell what it exactly was.
The experts needed more of their equipment and told the authorities what all they need. Before anybody could tell what was that thing that Shawn discovered they need the professional equipment. The place was now filled with people who weren't allowed to see it as it was under investigation. After a while, the tools arrived and the experts were ready to discover the most amazing things in the world.
The experts were investigating the area and things were getting clear with every step. Back in their head, they knew what are they dealing with but still, they kept their mouth shut. They knew if people got to know about it there would be a chaos that nobody would be able to control. Shutting their mouth they did their work which was finding out what that thing was. After longs hours of research, the experts were now can say for sure what it was. Still, they didn't say anything and contacted the higher authorities for further orders. They had to move that thing from there as the authorities started to get concerned about the outcomes if the news was out in the open. But then something happened...
So the experts isolated the specimen, which was ready for transport. Clothed in burlap and high-quality plaster, it was hooked and was ready to get lifted through a big machine. As we already told you that people were all around the place and they didn't know what was going on. But as that item was lifted everybody took out their mobile phones and started recording it. The operator was trying his best to not to destroy the item but then it literally fell down...
It wasn't the operator's fault when that thing suddenly broke off the hook because the specimen was very heavy. They spent 14 days in excavating that item which was now lying there in pieces. Everybody's mouth opened wide the moment it touched the ground and was now all over the place. Luckily, it scattered into large pieces that could later be restored.
The specimen they found was now broken into 7 pieces and was extremely fragile. Both Tanke and Henderson who were overseeing the excavation scratched their heads to find a possible answer to the problem of transporting the broken items. They both needed to come out with a solution as soon as possible because the public was getting out of control. The specimen which weighed seven and a half ton rock was to be taken back to the Royal Tyrrell without causing it any further damage. But how?
It took the team 11 days to completely excavate the item. And now it was getting really frustrated as there was nothing they could do to transport it. Item was broken into seven pieces and all of them were really heavy. Tanke and Henderson were feeling the pressure as they were already running behind the schedule. Because of the excavation, the Suncor's company work was stopped and until this item wasn't removed the work couldn't start. But then there was a new problem...
Tanke and Henderson stayed up all night, thinking about the way to safely remove the item. In the morning, workers were again at work and still that specimen was there. Unable to work the workers stood there for their further orders from their respective managers. Before the specimen was shattered into pieces they wrapped it up and now they had to wrap the pieces too. While they did that, Tanke and Henderson were still thinking about the possible way to shift it. Then they came up with an amazing idea and soon they would find out what were they dealing with in reality.
Tanke and Henderson were aware of the fact that the only possible way to transport this precious thing was by road. The fragments were now ready to get transported, covered in plaster, Tanke was ready to give his plan a try and Henderson was right beside while they were trying their best to not to destroy the item. Tanke was looking for the manager and asked him if he could Timber, Doug who was managing the workers had no idea now from where he should get Timber for these scientists. Tanke had to come up with a new plan and it worked. Using burlap soaked in plaster, they rolled the items into the truck. Would their plan work or prove to be a nightmare?
The huge rocks were on the truck and were being transported to the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Luckily, Tanke's plan worked and they reached the museum safely. But now it was time to see what it actually was. The rock was sent to the most advanced lab and the scientist couldn't believe that something this big was found. Soon they would find the most amazing thing in the world. Let's see what it was actually.
After spending days to safely bring out the item from the ground and transport it to the facility there was lots of work that's needed to be done. The scientists knew whom to call in a situation like this. It was Mark Mitchell who was contacted by the museum. He was told about the possibility that has been found. Mark was the best in his job and the museum made the best decision to hire him. He knew how to work things out when you have 7 huge pieces of rock lying in front of you.
After spending hundreds of hours on the thing for several years, Mark was able to remove the hard rock and that astonishing thing was in front of him. Secured and preserved in the lab it was almost ready to come out in the world in front of the people. When Michael Greshko, a writer for National Geographic caught the news of the story he was going to see it personally. He was shocked to see that it was looking like it was real. “Might have been walking around a couple of weeks ago. I’ve never seen anything like this,” Vinther expressed after watching it.
There's a reason Jurassic Park was shot on the fictional Isla Nubra and not on the land of Arctic. The fictional Costa Rican island was first decided to bet set off the coast of Central America and the site of the Jurassic Park theme was to be built here as the climate was dinosaur friendly. Today, if you plan to visit Alberta, you have to be sure that you are wearing a heavy-duty coat. The arctic winds are not for humans, let alone dinosaurs. But in the past when dinosaurs were living they had very different scenery.
Dinosaurs walked on this planet some 110-112 million years ago in western Canada which was a lot more tropical back then compared to today. The land was covered with forests and of course we humans weren't there to spoil the landscape. This fossil was found in Fort McMurray and there could be a possibility that one unlucky dinosaur met an unfateful demise. But how did he reach this place where this dinosaur's fossil was found?
According to Henderson, there's plenty of evidence proving that there were large rivers flowing out of the mountains in northern British Columbia towards the inland ocean in Alberta. Scientists believe that this dinosaur must have been walking along the river and one sudden day the river might have flooded which must have swept the creature off its feet. For millions of years, the body went through lots of processes until it was transformed into a fossil.
When finally the water settled own the body which must have been floating for weeks rested in peace at the bottom of the ocean floor. The dinosaur's huge body hit the sand which created a carter and remained there for millions of years. While it sounds like a very unfortunate event that took place but scientists believe that it was meant to happen like this, it wouldn't have been like this we wouldn't have found the fossil in such a good condition.
There were some interesting finds about the discovery that stunned everybody. The fossil was what some 110 -112 million-years-old, but the scientists found some race of skin and soft tissues still attached with the body of the dinosaur. This fossil has not only given the scientists more information about the dinosaur but also a tragic story about this species which was lost in time.
The fossil is one of the biggest finds in the century, and it was one such discovery that amazed every paleontologist all around the world. But what should we name it? The scientists had no idea what to name this species as it was a new discovery which hasn't happened before. This species was from the family of nodosaur, a plant-eater from the Cretaceous period. Because of the fossil scientists know more about nodosaur. But with further research, the scientists found out some mind-boggling things about the species,
Nodosaurs were 18 feet long and weighed around 3,000 pounds. Now just imagine at what force that water might have hit him that was able to sweep this huge creature. Despite being so huge in size, the nodosaur wasn't like T-Rex type predator. You can compare this creature with present-day rhinoceros, also a plant-eater who prefers to spend his time alone.
The nodosaur comes from a family of the Ankylosauridae, but unlike other members of the family, the nodosaur didn't have a spiked tail. Paleontologists suggest that Ankylosaurs do seem like a slow breed but during the attack, they act very fast. Ray Stanford, a dinosaur specialist, described this species as a "four-footed tank." The nodosaur has two 20-inch long spikes that start from his shoulders and would have helped the creature in defending itself from the enemy.
After seeing the condition of this fossil Michael Greshko compared it with “winning the lottery.” The fossil holds the title of being the oldest Albertan dinosaur ever discovered. There is a lot that's needed to learn from this fossil and the scholars are trying their best to find out more about nodosaur. The Millenium Mile nodosaur is very unique as a species and has a lot to offer about the past.
Chemical tests were performed on the tissues which were found on this skeleton which told them that this species had horns which must have been lighter in color. But there was more this skeleton has to teach the scientists. Every day the scientists were finding new information about the species. It was because even after so many years it was still in a good condition.
“I’ve been calling this one the Rosetta stone for armor," said Donald Henderson who is a Curator of Dinosaurs. According to the scientists, when you are reconstructing the dinosaur's armor there is a lot of information you can find about the species and the past they lived in. This skeleton which they had in the lab was like a jackpot because the armor was still there. During the decay process, there are chances that this armor falls off. What else they found out?
Though the scientists have an idea about the Ankylosaur having trunks, skeletons don't tell anything about the skin of the creature. But this skeleton was special. "What we thought this animal looked like based on the skeleton is what it actually looked like," said Arbour.
The osteoderms of this species are in place, and moreover, are well preserved. Amazingly, in some of the osteoderms, the scientists even found the traces of keratin, which is the stuff from which human nails are made of. Because of the keratin, the paleontologists are able to suggest the reason behind its size and weight. There is a lot this fossil has to teach but it was a tough road ahead.
Mark Mitchell suggests that the process should be done at a slow pace. In a report which was published in National Geographic, Mitchell wrote about the work describing it, “like freeing compressed talcum powder from concrete.” As a token of gratitude this fossil has been given a formal name as “Borealopelta markmitchelli.” Mark knows that there are still so many problems that are needed to be solved before they could tell more about it.
"We don’t just have a skeleton, we have a dinosaur as it would have been," told Caleb Brown, a Ph.D. researcher at the Royal Tyrrell Museum to National Geographic. The scientists have been working on to find out about the last meal this creature had before he was washed away. But there is a problem, the armor has been very helpful that has taught a lot about the species it has also created several problems for the scientists.
Mitchell knew that in order to fully understand the species they had to work for several more years before they could more about it. It took them seven years to get some clear answers about the exterior of the creature. The skeleton has provided the scientists with lots of information for many years but they encountered an unexpected problem which stopped the work for the scientists. Paleontologists realized that working below the epidermis was almost impossible.
Initial attempts have been very fruitful for the scientists but as the research was proceeding there options have become limited. Scientists wanted to take a closer look at the bones but because of the hard armor, they haven't been successful. If they want to get under its skin to research about it even further they had to break the armor which could completely destroy its originality.
After the scientists got the funding for CT scans which was provided by the National Geographic Society, scientists believe that they might be able to catch a glimpse of its interior. Sadly, every attempt was a failure. Even the CT scans couldn't help the scientists. "The rock is too dense…Ironically, it’s too well preserved!" said Arbour.
This amazing nodosaur fossil is available for the general public to see in the Royal Tyrrell Museum. The public couldn't take their eyes off the fossil when it was put on display for the first time. Who could have thought that a regular guy Shawn Funk would discover something this huge in the middle of nowhere? At Suncor, workers have been informed to be cautious about the work as there could be more such fossils buried under the earth.