New fossil site featuring at least three types of dinosaurs found near Grande Prairie
At least three different types of dinosaurs walked at a site near Grande Prairie, researchers said after a new fossil site was located on Redwillow River.
© Provided by Edmonton Journal A group of researchers from Australia, Italy and Canada, led by PhD student Nathan Enriquez, recently described the footprints at Tyrants Aisle in the journal, PLOS One.
Kellen Taniguchi
A group of researchers from Australia, Italy and Canada recently described the footprints found at Tyrants Aisle, a name referring to the tyrannosaurus, a dinosaur that historically roamed the area, in the journal PLOS One, the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum said in a news release.
The group was led by PhD student Nathan Enriquez and the journal entry was co-authored by Corwin Sullivan, a University of Alberta professor and curator with the museum.
Grande Prairie Regional College provided logistical support for the team during its fieldwork at the site, most of which was conducted in 2018. The museum said the water level in the area has been too high in recent years to continue the work.
A group of researchers from Australia, Italy and Canada recently described the footprints found at Tyrants Aisle, a name referring to the tyrannosaurus, a dinosaur that historically roamed the area, in the journal PLOS One, the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum said in a news release.
The group was led by PhD student Nathan Enriquez and the journal entry was co-authored by Corwin Sullivan, a University of Alberta professor and curator with the museum.
Grande Prairie Regional College provided logistical support for the team during its fieldwork at the site, most of which was conducted in 2018. The museum said the water level in the area has been too high in recent years to continue the work.
Enriquez said the dinosaur tracks at the site are from at least three different dinosaurs and the most common prints are from duck-billed dinosaurs, which were up to 12 metres in length, stood over two metres at the hip and could weigh as much as four tonnes.
The tracks were formed when the area around Grande Prairie was a large floodplain.
The museum said there are at least two types of carnivorous dinosaurs which frequented the site too. The authors wrote footprints at the site with three toes are from a tyrannosaur, possibly an Albertosaurus sarcophagus, a smaller descendent of the T. rex. Fossil footprints with two toes are from deinonychosaurs, a raptor-like dinosaur.
The footprints are submerged in the river for most of the year, said the museum, and the museum’s paleontology team is getting set to start exploring and excavating this spring.
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