First-of-its-kind dinosaur fossil reveals look at Saskatchewan 75 million years ago

While you mightiness deliberation of places similar Drumheller, Alta., arsenic the centre of the dinosaur world, Saskatchewan mightiness person a batch much to connection than you mightiness think.

Recently, paleontologists from McGill University discovered Saskatchewan’s archetypal Centrosaurus.

Centrosaurus was a herbivorous dinosaur with 1 horn connected its snout and spines astir the backmost of its cervix frill.

“We recovered fragments of the frill that person horns shaped similar hooks and those are distinctive of that species,” Alexandre Demers-Potvin, a PhD, McGill University palaeobiologist said.

“It’s portion of a radical of dinosaurs called Ceratopsia. And that beauteous overmuch includes each the dinosaurs that had horns connected their heads. So, deliberation of thing similar triceratops.”

As portion of the discovery, researchers besides uncovered a unsocial ecosystem astatine the Lake Diefenbaker Bonebed successful Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park.

Demers-Potvin said it revealed an situation dissimilar immoderate antecedently documented successful Canada.

According to University of Saskatchewan adjunct prof Dr. Emily L. Bamforth, the uncovering has changed the mode we deliberation astir the ecosystem recovered successful Saskatchewan 75 cardinal years ago.

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She said it is the archetypal look astatine a coastal habitat, dissimilar thing other successful Canada.

“Saskatchewan was really beachfront spot astatine that time, which is benignant of hard to ideate today,” Bamforth explained. “But that’s benignant of wherever our dinosaurs, some successful Alberta and Saskatchewan were living. Kind of successful this coastal floodplain beside the sea.”

The Centrosaurus fossil was transported to the Royal Saskatchewan Museum successful Regina for further research, and 1 time it could beryllium connected display.

“When we get 1 of these depository specimens it’s not the extremity of the story,” Dr. Ryan McKellar, the Royal Saskatchewan Museum curator of paleontology said. “They past get utilized for things similar chemic investigation oregon uncovering maturation rings successful the bony to fig retired however aged these dinosaurs were.”

McKellar hopes discoveries similar this enactment Saskatchewan connected the map.

“Finds similar this and the fieldwork that goes into them gully a batch of paleo students to the state and besides different researchers. We person radical that travel from each implicit the satellite to enactment connected the rocks successful Saskatchewan.”