A dinosaur discovered by a teenager, back in 1999, in North Dakota has proven to be the best-preserved dinosaur mummies ever found, researchers announced today. The specimen has much of its muscles and bones still wrapped in skin, allowing the scientists to reconstruct its musculature, which was impossible to realize previously.

The dinosaur, also called Dakota, by the place where it was discovered, had been fossilized into stone. Unlike other discoveries that revealed collection of bones, this dinosaur came complete with skin, ligaments, tendons and possibly some internal organs, according to researchers.

"It's unbelievable when you look at it for the first time. There is depth and structure to the skin. The level of detail expressed in the skin is just breathtaking," paleontologist Phillip Manning of Manchester University, lead-researcher said.

The dinosaur estimated to have lived 67 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous Period was removed almost intact, with just the tail in a separate block. Researchers say that it weighed almost 8,000 pounds and was up to 40 feet long. In order to learn more about it, Manning and its team persuaded Boeing Company and NASA to use a huge CT scanner in Canoga Park, California.

Researchers were surprised by the dinosaur’s tail, which was 25 percent larger than previously thought. Locomotor biologist Bill Sellers of the University of Manchester used a computer program to reconstruct the way the hadrosaur would have moved. He revealed a picture of an animal that walked not upright, with its head low to the ground and forearms almost touching.

Because ligaments and tendons were very well preserved, researchers could calculate its muscle mass, showing it was stronger and potentially faster than it had been known. Its strong muscles would have allowed it to run with almost 25 mph, with 10 miles faster than its predator, Tyrannosaurus rex.

"It's very logical, though, that a hadrosaur could run faster than a T. rex. It's a major prey animal and it doesn't have big horns on its head like triceratops. Hadrosaurs didn't have much in the way of defense systems, so they probably relied on fleet of foot," Manning said.

Other intriguing discovery on the hadrosaur was its skin, which kept its texture still intact although it lost its color. The fossilized skin also shows that the hadrosaur may have been striped for camouflage, which made it less visible to predators.

His vertebrae were separated by a centimeter thickness of soft tissue- about 0.4 inches, which indicates that the hadrosaur had more flexibility and it was actually longer that what is revealed in museums.

Manning’s team will also be able to analyze parts of the hidrosaur’s anatomy but for this, the paleontologist is sure he and his team will have to spend years in the laboratory.

"It is going to keep me and the team very, very busy. I'm 40 now. I think I'll still be playing with this animal when I am in my 80s," Manning said.

The National Geographic Society, which paid for the expedition, will present the story of Dakota’s autopsy, in a new book, “Grave Secrets of Dinosaurs” and a special Dino Autopsy will air Sunday at 9 pm on the National Geographic Channel.

Image Credit: National Geographic