Winona State University receives rare 66-million-year-old dinosaur fossil

A fossil, possibly one of the rarest dinosaur finds on earth, can now be found at Winona State University.

As reported by KSTP sister station KAAL-TV, the estimated 66-million-year-old find, nicknamed “Medusa,” was uncovered by hand along a cliff in North Dakota’s Hell Creek Formation, where crews spent multiple years digging, moving, and collecting data on the fossil.

Approximately 12 feet long and 7 feet wide, “Medusa” is the preserved remains of an Edmontosaurus, an herbivorous dinosaur that lived in the Late Cretaceous period. The university said that to get it into the building, they had to remove a window just so it would fit inside the Science Laboratory Center.

Still, the fossil is missing some parts, which, if attached, would have made it nearly twice as large.

“We’re missing the tail and we’re missing the head, but the center part of the body here is about 12 feet long,” said Dr. Lee Beatty, Professor and Chair of the Geoscience Department at WSU. “So we think that when the animal was alive, it was maybe 20 or 25 feet long.”

What it wasn’t missing, however, is even more shocking: signs of preserved skin and soft tissue.

While dinosaur skin and tissue have been found in the past, “dinosaur mummies” are incredibly rare, with only a handful known worldwide.

Potential data from “Medusa” could reveal how the environment shifted during the late Cretaceous — offering clues scientists use to understand environmental change today.
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