Dinosaur Porcupine? Like NOTHING found before!

Researchers in northeastern China uncovered an iguanodontid with short spines between its scales — a feature never before documented in a dinosaur. The video notes that while it’s been compared to a porcupine, that comparison isn’t quite accurate: these aren’t feathers or protofeathers, but a specialized scale structure similar to what’s found on living iguanas.

The video cites the underlying study, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution (doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02960-9), as its source.