Dinosaur bones and skeletons, even dinosaur eggs are not unusual, but rare soft-tissue fossils give tantalizing clues about the appearance and physiology of the ancient animals. Here, paleontologist Manning presents the most astonishing dinosaur fossil excavations of the past 100 years--including the recent discovery of a remarkably intact dinosaur mummy in the Badlands of North Dakota. Bone structure is just the beginning of our knowledge today, thanks to amazing digs like these. Drawing on new breakthroughs and cutting-edge techniques of analysis, Dr. Manning takes us on a globe-spanning tour of dinosaur mummy finds--from the first such excavation in 1908 to a baby dinosaur unearthed in 1980, from a dino with a heart in South Dakota to titanosaur embryos in Argentina. Using state-of-the-art technology to scan and analyze these discoveries, scientists can create incredibly lifelike portraits.--From publisher description."When Tyler Lyson, hiking the Badlands of North Dakota in 1999, discovered the bony tip of an ancient tail, he knew he had made an unusual find, yet he was unaware of exactly how momentous a discovery it really was. He noted the location of the fossil but did not return to excavate it until 2003. It was then he contacted Dr. Philip Manning, an internationally renowned paleontologist. Together, the two soon realized that they had not only a skeleton of a dinosaur but also tendons, ligaments, and a partial 3-D skin envelope, which would allow muscle volume to be calculated for the very first time. They had uncovered an extremely rare fossil - a dinosaur mummy." "Drawing upon cutting-edge technology, Phil Manning takes readers on a chronological tour of the handful of dinosaur mummies that have teased the scientific community since 1908, when the first remarkably preserved example was discovered and excavated. Since then, similar discoveries from Italy to China and, from North America to Patagonia have added to our knowledge and understanding of these remarkable fossils - but none so much as this newest, whose grave secrets are being explored by Manning's team, working with everything from tweezers, plaster, and burlap to state-of-the-art protein analysis and the world's largest CT scanner as they excavate, record, and analyze this incredible new find."--BOOK JACKET.