Dinomummy

Foreword I have been passionate about dinosaurs ever since my oldest brother, Ryan, and I found the fossilized jaw of a duck-billed hadrosaur when I was six years old.The fossil, which I still have in a shoebox in my bedroom, made me want to learn everything about hadrosaurs and all of the other dinosaurs. The fossil also made me realize that anyone can hunt for and find dinosaurs. At the age of six, I was too young to look for fossils by myself, but I was very determined. I managed to persuade my very patient and loving mother to drive me out to the remote Hell Creek badlands, which surround my hometown of Marmarth, North Dakota. She would sit in a lawn chair with one eye on her book and one eye on me as I dug around in the dirt, looking for more dinosaur bones. As a teenager, my persistence and passion grew.With a fellow budding fossil expert, I set up the Marmarth Research Foundation, an organization devoted to the excavation, preservation, and study of dinosaur fossils.The headquarters were in a garage, but that didn't hold us back-soon bones from Triceratops, Pachycephalosaurus, and even T. rex were pouring in. But none of those finds came close to my discovery, aged 16, on a late summer evening while fossil hunting on my uncle's ranch. I found Dakota, a mummified duck-billed dinosaur-a "dinomummy" so rare and so special that it could change the way that we think about dinosaurs. Dinomummyis Dakota's story. It's an adventure through time as well as science. Enjoy the ride! Tyler Lyson, PhD student of paleontology at Yale University, founder of the Marmarth Research Foundation, and discoverer of Dakota It is the age of the dinosaurs, a time when the largest creatures that ever lived walked on Earth. One of these strange reptiles, a hadrosaur, emerges from the ferns and lush plants that line the river. Sixty-five million years from now, he will be recognized as one of the most important dinosaurs ever found, and he will be named Dakota. But today, stepping into the morning sun, unaware of his future, the animal thinks only of surviving another day in Hell Creek. A large and heavy dinosaur, Dakota moves cautiously on thick,muscular legs to reach the river's edge.The toes of his padded feet spread wide to stop him from sinking into the wet sand, and his tail sways gently to balance his long body. He is not yet an adult, but already he is almost 26 feet long, nearly the length of a bus. Dakota drops onto slender forearms, ready to drink. Suddenly, across the water, two male Pachycephalosaurus clash in a violent display of strength. Dakota watches as they charge at each other like battering rams, delivering powerful blows with their thick, domed skulls. Today, their aggressive head butts are designed to impress females of their type. On other days, they might be used in defense against predators. Another plant eater is quietly watching the contest.The three-horned Triceratops is better prepared for defending herself against the giant carnivores of Hell Creek. A heavy and powerful creature, around twice the size of a rhinoceros, she can cause severe damage with her two longest horns while remaining protected by her solid neck frill. Dakota has no such armor or weapons. Dakota returns to the protection of his herd, which is grazing nearby.These gentle plant eaters rely on safety in numbers.Young and vulnerable, Dakota buries himself in the center of the group. It is the fall, and the hadrosaurs have just arrived in Hell Creek. Every year, they migrate from the north to escape its cool, dry winters. Hell Creek is warm and wet all year round, and the herd has come to feed on its lush plant life. A lone Ankylosaurus, slow and heavy under the weight of heManning, Philip is the author of 'Dinomummy ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780753460474 and ISBN 0753460475.