'Medusa,' possible 'dinosaur mummy' discovered in Badlands, transferred for further research
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Sun, December 7, 2025 at 4:06 PM UTC
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The dinosaur, the fossil of an Edmontosaurus, was about 66 million years old.
Medusa, a fossil considered a possible dinosaur mummy, has been transferred to a lab in Minnesota for further study after researchers found the remains contained significant amounts of skin and tendon tissue.
The dinosaur, the fossil of an Edmontosaurus, was about 66 million years old, according to researchers. This type of fossil is so rare that only about a dozen of this kind exist. The remains have now been transferred to Winona State University in Minnesota, where geoscientists will conduct further research.
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Medusa was found by a team led by Winona State graduate Adam Schroeder, who found it in the Hell Creek Formation, an archaeological site in North Dakota's Badlands. Initially, Schroeder did not think much of the fossil discovery, but after his team began their examination and circled the fossils, they found what they believed to be evidence of tendons on the dorsal bones protruding from the rock.
Medusa arrived encased in a large plaster jacket, measuring 12 feet long and seven feet wide, according to a statement from the university.
The university stated that Medusa will be available for display.
The fossil is so large that two windows in the university’s science building had to be removed to bring it into the facility.
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Medusa weighed 14,000 pounds and was encased in rock. The fossil itself took over a year to be cut out of the archaeological site ahead of travel.
Giant dinosaur fossil moved using ancient techniques
The fossil itself was undisturbed and took months not only to get it out of the rock it was in, but also down 85 feet from a cliff. At one point, Schroeder said, it was moved 100 feet by hand using techniques from ancient Egypt.
The Edmontosaurus stood at up to 40 feet tall, around the same size as the Tyrannosaurus rex, or “T. rex.” The dinosaur had a duck-billed head and hundreds of teeth to maintain its herbivore diet. This kind was first discovered in Canada and was the largest herbivore in the Great Plains region of North America during the Late Cretaceous period, before its extinction 65 million years ago.
This discovery provided additional clues about Earth’s evolution over millions of years.
The fossil will take at least five years to properly examine, and it has been encased in a plaster cast for protection. This cast may never be removed if all goes well, researchers from the university said.