Fossil?

[ynot]

Hey hi Y'all,

Noticed this piece in a reply to a thread.

It was used as an example of an unusual preservation fossil.

I have doubt as to whether it is a fossil, much less sure it is what it is identified as.

So here is their picture and statement...

All known nodosaurs were armored, but the impression fossil of the Propanoplosaurus baby doesn't appear to have any armor. What's going on? The hard, bony armor of nodosaurs was readily preserved and has been found associated with the bones of adults of all species, so the lack of armor on the baby's skeleton is surprising. Scientists have two hypotheses. It could be that the skeleton of the dead baby nodosaur slipped out of its armored skin before the skeletal impression formed. It is also possible that nodosaurs were born without armor and developed it as they grew. We know that other types of dinosaurs were born without some of the features that they had as adults. For example, Pachycephalosaurus, famous for its domed skull with knobby protuberances, lacked the dome when it was young. Likewise, the horns and neck frill of Triceratops species were different in young, mature, and old individuals.

 

My questions are...

Does anyone think this is a real fossil?

Can You show other pieces with similar preservation?

[Troodon]

 

Ray Stanford; David B. Weishampel; Valerie B. DeLeon (2011). "The First Hatchling Dinosaur Reported from the Eastern United States: Propanoplosaurus marylandicus (Dinosauria: Ankylosauria) from the Early Cretaceous of Maryland, U.S.A." Journal of Paleontology. 85 (5): 916–924. doi:10.1666/10-113.1. Retrieved 2012-10-17.

 

[ynot]

Thank You Frank! @Troodon

Makes much better sense now.

[Miocene_Mason]

Very real, on display at the smithsonian. I got a chance to go see it a few times. It is a cast fossil, which is strange for a dinosaur, but not super surprising knowing the rocks of the Potomac group. 

[Herb]

very cool fossil