Utah Skeleton New Species?

[Debi]

Mysterious and Ancient Skeleton in Utah May be an Entirely New Species

A mysterious skeleton that was found at Canyonlands National Park (specifically at Lost Canyon) in Utah may be an entirely

mysteriousuniverse.org

 

[ozentity]

It's good they keep finding new ancient animals so we can put the picture together better.

 

[Lynne]

I simply can not believe it’s been sitting there for 295 million years and has not turned to dust or got scattered around. How is this possible. Next thing they will say is there’s some dna still viable in there.

 

[GoneWestUtah]

It's a fossil at this point, Lynne. It is stone and minerals, itself, no longer bone. It's in a creek bed so has probably been exposed by water erosion over the last few hundred thousand years. No viable DNA will be found, it's completely transformed after this much time. What makes it remarkable is the fact that it's a new species, and a complete specimen. Usually the bones become scattered after decomposition of the softer tissues, either from predator action or the weather and ground erosion. Complete specimens are very rare.

 

[Lynne]

It's a fossil at this point, Lynne. It is stone and minerals, itself, no longer bone. It's in a creek bed so has probably been exposed by water erosion over the last few hundred thousand years. No viable DNA will be found, it's completely transformed after this much time. What makes it remarkable is the fact that it's a new species, and a complete specimen. Usually the bones become scattered after decomposition of the softer tissues, either from predator action or the weather and ground erosion. Complete specimens are very rare.

Thanks for explaining this. It makes way more sense now.