Alta. oilsands worker digs up rare dinosaur
Fossil could be 110 million years old, expert says
CBC News
Posted: Mar 25, 2011 11:56 AM MT
Last Updated: Mar 25, 2011 3:18 PM MT
Suncor supervisor Michel Gratton and shovel operator Shawn Funk sent photos of the
fossil to the Royal Tyrell Museum. (Supplied)
A Suncor oilsands worker near Fort McMurray, Alta., has unearthed
a rare dinosaur fossil that could be 110 million years old.
On Monday, shovel operator Shawn Funk noticed a large lump of dirt
with an odd texture and a diamond pattern in a shovel-load of
material.
He shut down the shovel, and together he and supervisor Michel
Gratton sent photos of the find to the Royal Tyrrell Museum in
Drumheller, Alta.
What the fossil might look like once it's removed from
surrounding rock. Sup\pliedThe find intrigued experts enough
that the museum sent a scientist and a technician up to Fort
McMurray two days later.
Curator Donald Henderson believes the completely intact
dinosaur skeleton is the earliest dinosaur ever found in Alberta
— a 110-million-year-old fossil of ankylosaur, a rare land
dinosaur with bony plates of body armour.
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