Fossil of spiky dinosaur ankylosaur wins 'Dino Idol' contest

Washington, Mar 22 : A spiky dinosaur won the most votes in a Canadian "Dino Idol" contest that asked visitors to one museum to select which fossil among five specimens they wanted to see unwrapped from its protective packet.

"Canadian Club," an ankylosaur, took 36 percent of the votes cast.

Its tally was 605 more votes than the second-place winner, which was part of a dinosaur mouth known as "Mystery Jaw," Fox News reported.

Before voting, visitors to the Canadian Museum of Nature in the past month could view the fossils in their "jackets" of burlap, plaster and surrounding rock material.

"Our visitors were clearly drawn to Canadian Club, although each candidate was selected to provide something interesting to uncover," Jordan Mallon, a palaeontologist at the museum, in Ottawa said.

Each of the five specimens was collected between 1912 and 1924 by a famous Canadian fossil collector family, the Sternbergs.

The Sternbergs retrieved Canadian Club in 1915 from an area now known as Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, about 112 miles east of Calgary.

The fossil weighs in at 661 pounds. Canadian Club's jacket will be opened April 8.

Mallon said he is hoping to see scutes, or bony plates or scales that were on the skin of ankylosaurs.

The scutes could have acted as a shield against predators to the plant-eating animal, he said.

The museum will share the unwrapping through several social media channels and will also post videos and blog updates as the work progresses.