Rare fossilised skin of 'strangest dinosaur ever' discovered

Ever wanted to stroke a dinosaur?

What do you imagine its skin would actually look and feel like?

Scientists have analysed the well-preserved skin of one of the "strangest carnivorous dinosaurs ever discovered" in more detail than ever before.

They found that its complex coat was made up of different patterns of scales and studs.

The findings help give a makeover to Carnotaurus, which translates as "carnivorous bull" in reference to its strange skull with large horns.

The study was conducted by researchers from the Unidad Ejecutora Lillo in Argentina and the University of New England in Australia and was published in the journal Cretaceous Research.

The skin in question was first discovered in 1984 in the Chubut Province of Patagonia in Argentina.

Researchers said the find was "remarkable", as the the outer parts of prehistoric animals decompose easily and leave behind very little evidence in the form of fossils.

What were the scientists able to discover?

The scientists described in detail, for the first time, the features of skin preserved in the shoulder, thoracic, tail and, possibly, neck regions of the fossil skeleton.

Christophe Hendrickx from the Unidad Ejecutora Lillo, said this showed that the skin of this dinosaur was more diverse than previously thought, consisting of large and randomly distributed studs surrounded by a network of small long, diamond-shaped or circular scales.

'Random' scales

A close up portrait of a Thorny Devil Lizard.

The large studs and small scales are said to be similar to those seen in the thorny devil lizard found in the Australian Outback

Experts said they were surprised to see that the scales were randomly distributed and not in neat rows or even in proportion to the parts of the body they were on.

They think its skin can partly be explained by the active lifestyle they think the dinosaur would have had and the need to shed excess heat.