Newborn Dinosaur

A fossil was discovered in 1997 by Ray Stanford but not until recently in 2011 have researchers and amateur fossil hunters defined the fossil as the youngest nodosaur ever discovered. These nodosaurs have been found worldwide but rarely in the United States. By cleaning the skull, analyzing the bones and size of the body and using the position and characteristics of the fossil David Weishampel, Ph.D., a professor of anatomy at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and his team were able to determine the fossil's identity. With this discovery Weishampel says, "Now we can learn about the development of limbs and the development of skulls early on in a dinosaur's life". The nodosaur is currently on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.