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Statuesque dinosaur fossil unveiled in Canada

Six years ago, a miner in Canada accidentally uncovered one of the best preserved dinosaur fossils of all time.

The nodosaur - a 5 metre, 1.3 tonne, armoured herbivore - was found by heavy equipment operator Shawn Funk.

According to National Geographic, Funk, using a towering excavator, clipped something unusual.

It was harder than the surrounding rock he was digging through and a different colour altogether.

Realising this was not an average find, Funk called it in. It was then painstakingly transported to the Royal Tyrrell Museum at Alberta in Canada's west.

For five years scientists at the museum laboured over the hard rock encasing the dinosaur, with fossil preparator Mark Mitchel working for more than 17,000 to unveil the nodosaur's skin and bone.

What he revealed looks like a sculpture, not a fossil, and images are only now being released of the magnificent find.

Scientists say the animal's remains are so well preserved due to how it was deposited.

The animal was likely washed away in a flood, floated out to sea and sunk in to ocean floor belly up, allowing for its skin and armour to be mineralised so it would keep its shape.

This process all happened from 110-112 million years ago in the Cretaceous period.

There is still much to be learned from the fossil, with its bone structure still trapped from view under its armour.

Scientists are also testing the skin of the animal to determine its original colour.

The nodosaur will be the central focus of a new exhibit at the Alberta Royal Tyrrell Museum, which will focus of fossils uncovered from industrial areas in the Canadian Province.

Image: Robert Clark/National Geographic