OLogy Cards > Byronosaurus jaffei

A Mishmash of Bones
When Byronosaurus was discovered in the Gobi Desert in the 1990s, its bones were mixed with the bones of at least one other animal. When newly eroded bones are found all mixed up like this, paleontologists call the mixture of bones and rock "float." To figure out which bones belonged to which animal, the scientists had to dig into their knowledge of dinosaur anatomy. It took a lot of work, but eventually scientists were able to sort through all of the bones and even put Byronosaurus' skull back together.