Today we celebrate another fossil
discovery that appears to be extraordinary.
We believe it is a three dimensional ankylosaur protected by a casing of
harder rock. Most likely it sank
directly into the ooze and was quickly fossilized. The
existence of tendons alone suggests that we may be even able to trace soft
tissue forms.
One takes luck wherever one finds
it and this is a very lucky find that is worth following as it is likely a
throve of new knowledge.
The same mechanisms that preserve
marine fossils went to work on this particular LAND critter. We will not be finding many of these.
Rare fossil find
Oilsands worker uncovers 'earliest, most complete' dinosaur in Alberta
POSTMEDIA NEWS MARCH 27, 2011
A series of unlikely events over a span of 113 million years has
resulted in the discovery of what may be the oldest dinosaur remains in Alberta
On Monday afternoon, a shovel operator at a Suncor oilsands mine site
noticed what looked like brown discs in the black rock on a small cliff he was
excavating. Per Suncor's policy, operator Shawn Funk shut off his machinery and
reported that he'd found something unusual.
"It was really like finding a needle in a haystack," said
Suncor spokeswoman Lanette Lundquist.
The area remained closed to work while Suncor took pictures of the
curious find and sent them to the Royal
Tyrrell Museum
There, Don Henderson, the curator of dinosaurs, thought it could be the
remains of a marine reptile, not an uncommon find in an area that used to be
underwater.
He thought he could see a fossilized flipper. On Tuesday, Henderson and
another Tyrrell employee travelled to the site, 50 kilometres north of Fort McMurray
"After about 10 minutes, we realized it was something
different," Henderson
"This thing is in a giant lump, about 85 per cent of it is still
in the hill," he said.
"This is a perfectly preserved three dimensional fossil. This is
the earliest, most complete find in Alberta
Henderson believes the bones belong to an ankylosaur, an armoured
herbivore covered in plates and spikes, with "wimpy little teeth."
When alive, it was roughly five metres long and two metres wide.
On average, dinosaurs found in Alberta
are 65 million to 75 million years old, while this find is likely 113
million years old, Henderson
The location and structure of the find are highly unlikely. For
starters, an ankylosaur was a terrestrial animal -this one ended up in an area
that was 150 km from any land at the time of its death. The dinosaur likely
died and was swept to sea before sinking.
The remains likely began to fossilize within days or even hours,
forming a "bombproof" protective crust that lasted until Funk
uncovered it.
Henderson praised Funk, who had just toured the Tyrrell last week, for
his caution. A massive shovel like Funk uses could easily destroy a fossil
without anyone ever knowing, Henderson
"This was just a series of very unlikely events," Henderson
Lundquist said the area of the Suncor site will remain closed until all
of the fossil is excavated. A meeting will be held Monday to determine the best
way to do that. Once those parts have come loose, they will be taken to
Drumheller on a flatbed truck.
The bulk of the fossil is sticking out from the side of a 3.5-metre
cliff. Workers will sift through the rubble below for any smaller pieces.
"This crust is very good to protect the fossil, but it will be very
difficult to prepare over the next two to three years. It's worth it, though,
for what we'll learn," Henderson
Such a complete skeleton of an ankylosaur has never been found before;
it's expected to provide new scientific information as it is uncovered by tiny
pneumatic drills and air-driven tools. That work will have to be careful, Henderson
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