Wyoming dinosaur “mummies” reveal rare soft tissue impressions, offering unprecedented insights into juvenile duck-billed dinosaurs and prehistoric anatomy.
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| Exceptional Wyoming fossils preserve soft tissue impressions of juvenile duck-billed dinosaurs, offering groundbreaking clues into their life, growth, and appearance. Image: CH |
WYOMING — Oct. 24, 2025:
Paleontologists in eastern Wyoming have uncovered an extraordinarily rare pair of dinosaur “mummies” that are redefining our understanding of juvenile duck-billed dinosaurs. Unlike typical fossils, which preserve only bones, these specimens capture subtle impressions of skin and soft tissues on hardened clay, offering a rare glimpse into the animals’ anatomy and appearance.
“This is the first juvenile dinosaur that really is mummified,” said University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno, who co-led the study. Remarkably, the fossils reveal patterns of scales, tail spikes, and hoof-like feet, allowing researchers to reconstruct the dinosaur in unprecedented detail.
Traditionally, such preservation was thought to occur mainly in aquatic environments. Yet microbial activity in clay layers appears to have preserved these impressions over millions of years, expanding scientists’ understanding of fossilization processes.
The discovery also highlights a new frontier in paleontology: identifying subtle soft tissue traces often overlooked in fieldwork. “Every single mummified specimen is a treasure trove of information,” said Stephanie Drumheller, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Published Thursday in Science, the study emphasizes how these rare finds can illuminate dinosaur behavior, growth, and environmental interactions. Each mummified dinosaur not only enriches our anatomical knowledge but also provides a vivid window into life in the prehistoric world.