[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: Mike Habib--
Seamus, let's see this armor.
NARRATOR: --is meeting with physicist Seamus Blackley
to test a replica that estimates Borealopelta's armor.
So this is the rear haunch of the nodosaur
that we talked about.
We laid down some ribs, some silicon connective tissue.
Then on top of it, we developed a polymer
that we cast into these scales that have the right level
of hardness and the right mechanical properties
to match what we think was actually on the animal.
Oh, that's perfect.
And the bone that you included--
SEAMUS BLACKLEY: It's cast so that it has the same fracture
characteristics as bone.
MIKE HABIB: But you didn't just build
the perfect armor, though.
I know you've also built the perfect predator.
When you see the predator, you might be a little bit
worried for nodosaur.
[LAUGHS]
All right, Mike, let me introduce
you to our Acrocanthosaurus.
This is Kathy.
[LAUGHS]
What a beast.
Hello, Kathy.
Mike, this is as near as we can produce
to a mechanically accurate, force accurate,
Acrocanthosaurus head.
She has 48 teeth made out of a special porcelain
that we slip cast and then fired so that they would have
the same strength and fragility, we think,
as the teeth of this animal.
And gosh, it's terrifying.
It really is.
MIKE HABIB (VOICEOVER): I'm really
curious to see how Borealopelta's
armor is going to hold up under a bite from Acrocanthosaurus.
SEAMUS BLACKLEY: Go look at the angle, Mike.
Do you like that relative to the mouth?
MIKE HABIB: Yeah.
NARRATOR: They've set up to simulate a bite
on Borealopelta's haunch.
MIKE HABIB: Bite force on Acrocanthosaurus
was thousands of pounds per square inch.
But when you look at what it's up against,
this is a very tough armor.
This is going to be highly destructive,
I think, one way or the other.
SEAMUS BLACKLEY: All right.
OK, can you hold it there?
MIKE HABIB: Yeah. SEAMUS BLACKLEY: Watson?
We're ready.
All right, we're go.
WATSON: Powering on.
Homing.
3, 2, 1.
Fire.
MIKE HABIB: [LAUGHS]
SEAMUS BLACKLEY: Nodosaur did really well.
MIKE HABIB: Well, it lost osteoderms.
It broke those off.
That's a sustainable loss.
The keratin, it can regrow.
SEAMUS BLACKLEY: Are we bleeding at this point?
I mean, there'd be-- yeah, there'd be some bleeding.
Let's give it another bite and see how it
is if she took a second bite.
SEAMUS BLACKLEY: All right.
Watson.
WATSN: 3, 2, 1.
Fire.
MIKE HABIB: Oh!
OK.
That's now just a fountain of blood.
You can see the ribs.
There are the ribs.
MIKE HABIB: Yeah.
SEAMUS BLACKLEY: This is the connective material
on the ribs.
That's a rib right there, right?
And it's-- oh, my god, Michael.
The rib is shattered.
MIKE HABIB: Shattered.
Oh, it sure is.
Look at that.
SEAMUS BLACKLEY: So this is a slow motion
video of the second bite.
MIKE HABIB: Oh, that's just brutal.
SEAMUS BLACKLEY: Oh, my god.
Oh, that's just awful.
I'm a physicist, not a physician.
But that looked like a tremendous amount
of organ damage right there.
Yeah.
I'm very impressed with both our critters, to be honest.
Borealopelta held up a little better
than I might have expected.
But it really also, I think, tells us
that if Borealopelta was attacked
by an Acrocanthosaurus, you would see evidence of that.
That's really fun to watch, I have to say.
MIKE HABIB (VOICEOVER): Based on our bite tests,
it's highly unlikely that a Borealopelta would
sustain a major bite from a big predator
and not show any signs.