# Borealopelta markmitchelli

> A nodosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Alberta preserved in 3D with its skin, horn-covered armor, pigment and last meal. Found in an oil-sands mine in 2011, it had washed out to sea and was buried on the sea floor.

- Classification: Dinosauria (clade) > Ornithischia (clade) > Thyreophora (clade) > Ankylosauria (clade) > Nodosauridae (family) > Borealopelta (genus) > Borealopelta markmitchelli (species)
- Length: 5.5 m
- Hip height: 1.2–1.6 m
- Mass: 1.3 t
- Age: 113–100.5 million years ago (Early Cretaceous)
- Fossils found in: Clearwater Formation (Alberta); Canada
- Diet: herbivore
- Described: Caleb M. Brown et al., 2017

Canonical page: https://dinodex.club/dinosaurs/borealopelta-markmitchelli
Last updated: 2026-09-27

## Overview

Borealopelta markmitchelli lived in what is now northern Alberta in the Early Cretaceous (early Albian). Its body floated out to sea and sank, and was buried in marine sediments of the Clearwater Formation. Shawn Funk found it in 2011 while digging at the Suncor Millennium Mine near Fort McMurray; technician Mark Mitchell spent nearly six years preparing it.

It is one of the best-preserved dinosaurs ever found: the front half of the body is in three dimensions, with the bony armor still capped by horn (keratin) sheaths and covered by scales. Melanin traces show it was darker on the back than on the belly, a camouflage pattern called countershading, which suggests that even a 1.3-tonne armored animal was hunted by large predators.

A mass in its belly holds its last meal: mostly fern leaves, with some twigs and about 6% charcoal. The plants point to feeding in late spring or summer, perhaps on regrowth after a wildfire (Brown et al. 2020).

## Name meaning

"Northern shield", from Latin borealis ("northern") and Greek peltē ("shield"); markmitchelli honours Mark Mitchell, who prepared the specimen (Brown et al. 2017).

## Sources

1. (2026). Paleobiology Database: Borealopelta occurrences. The Paleobiology Database (paleobiodb.org), data service 1.2, accessed 2026-09-23. https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/occs/list.txt?base_name=Borealopelta&show=coords,paleoloc,strat,loc,ref&pgm=gplates
2. (2026). Wikipedia: Borealopelta. Wikipedia (English), accessed 2026-09-23. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borealopelta
3. Brown, C. M. (2017). An exceptionally preserved armored dinosaur reveals the morphology and allometry of osteoderms and their horny epidermal coverings. PeerJ 5: e4066. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4066
4. Brown, C. M., Greenwood, D. R., Kalyniuk, J. E., Braman, D. R., Henderson, D. M., Greenwood, C. L. & Basinger, J. F. (2020). Dietary palaeoecology of an Early Cretaceous armoured dinosaur (Ornithischia; Nodosauridae) based on floral analysis of stomach contents. Royal Society Open Science 7: 200305. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200305
5. Brown, C. M., Henderson, D. M., Vinther, J., Fletcher, I., Sistiaga, A., Herrera, J. & Summons, R. E. (2017). An exceptionally preserved three-dimensional armored dinosaur reveals insights into coloration and Cretaceous predator-prey dynamics. Current Biology 27: 2514-2521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.071
6. Cohen, K. M., Harper, D. A. T., Gibbard, P. L. & Car, N. (2023). International Chronostratigraphic Chart (v2023/09). International Commission on Stratigraphy. https://stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2023-09.pdf
7. Paul, G. S. (2016). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (2nd edition). Princeton University Press.

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Cite as: "Borealopelta markmitchelli". DinoDex. https://dinodex.club/dinosaurs/borealopelta-markmitchelli (updated 2026-09-27).