A miner in Canada, digging through earth, made an unexpected discovery that even scientists say is mind-boggling. Shawn Funk was digging at the Millennium Mine near Fort McMurray in northern Alberta, Canada, on March 21, 2011, when he hit something unusual: a dinosaur petrified from the nose to its hips so intact that it looked like a statue.
National Geographic reports that the nodosaur remains found by Funk in the Canadian mine would be deemed the most well-preserved dinosaur fossil ever found. The petrified dinosaur would have been approximately 18-feet long and 3,000 pounds when it roamed the earth. The fossil that remains is incredibly detailed with remnants of skin still covering the creature's armor plates.
The nodosaur has been dubbed the "four-legged-tank" due to its unusual scaly armor that featured 20-inch spikes that extended from its shoulders. The spikes and armor plates were preserved by a rapid undersea burial which left scientists with an unprecedented look 110 million years into the past.