[1] On March 23, Royal Tyrrell Museum scientist Donald Henderson and senior technician Darren Tanke were brought to the mine to examine the specimen, which, based on photographs, they expected to be a plesiosaur or another marine reptile, as no land animals had ever been discovered in the oil sands previously.

The Suncor specimen, however, appears to have sunk upside-down onto the sea floor shortly after its death, causing the top half of the body to be quickly buried with minimal distortion.

[6][4] The Suncor specimen preserved numerous closely spaced rows of small armor plates, or osteoderms, lining the top and sides of its broad body.

[6][7] Sauroplites scutiger Mymoorapelta maysi Dongyangopelta yangyanensis Gastonia burgei Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum Polacanthus foxii Peloroplites cedrimontanus Sauropelta edwardsi Nodosaurus textilis Tatankacephalus cooneyorum Silvisaurus condrayi Animantarx ramaljonesi Hungarosaurus tormai Europelta carbonensis Pawpawsaurus campbelli Borealopelta markmitchelli Struthiosaurus austriacus Stegopelta landerensis Panoplosaurus mirus Edmontonia rugosidens Edmontonia longiceps Denversaurus schlessmani The discovery that Borealopelta possessed camouflage coloration indicates that it was under threat of predation, despite its large size, and that the armor on its back was primarily used for defensive rather than display purposes.

[9] In 2023, Kalyniuk and colleagues compared the flora of the Gates Formation to the stomach contents of Borealopelta and suggested that type specimen fed on ferns selectively or in a fern-rich area that was recently disturbed.

[10] The Suncor Borealopelta was preserved in the marine sandstones and shales of the Wabiskaw Member of the Clearwater Formation, which were laid down during the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous period, about 110–112 million years ago.

[6] At that time, the region was covered by the Western Interior Seaway, an inland sea that stretched from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico,[4][11] and the Wabiskaw sediments were being deposited in an offshore marine environment.

Initially, it was thought that it had bloated after death and floated on its back at the surface of the water for weeks before the eventual release of the built-up gases within the trunk region of the carcass at which point it sank.

[12] Larramendi and colleagues in 2020 doubted this hypothesis, as ankylosaurians would need a density comparable to modern birds for this to occur which is most certainly not the case; instead, it is thought that the animal was washed out to sea where it drowned after struggling to stay near the surface and then proceeded to sink.

A siderite concretion began to form around the carcass shortly after its arrival on the seabed, which prevented scavenging and preserved the body intact, with its scales and osteoderms in their original configuration.