World News – CA – Calgary boy makes important discovery of 69-million-year-old dinosaurs

Kevin fleming
CTV News Calgary Video Reporter

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Indeed, in July, the 12-year-old Calgary resident went fossil hunting with his father Dion, and touched paydirt, when he found a fossil of a 69 million-old hadrosaur. years in the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Nodwell property in Horseshoe Canyon

“I know it’s better known as the duck-billed dinosaur,” Hrushkin said. “They’ve got the bills almost like ducks and they’re herbivores and they stand on two feet – that sort of thing”

Nathan and his father, Dion, have been coming to the site west of Drumheller for years and are still searching for fossils Nathan made the find in July

“I never expected to find (anything) meaningful like this,” said senior Hrushkin “But we always hoped to come across a tooth or a bone fragment or something just to keep (Nathan ) interested in geology and keep him interested in being outdoors »

Although hadrosaurs are the most common fossils found in the Badlands of Alberta, this particular specimen is notable because few juvenile skeletons have been recovered and also because of its location in strata or rock formation. Fossil finds are rare in this geological layer

« This is very important to the Nature Conservancy of Canada because when we talk about land conservation we often talk about the benefits for future generations, but it is a great opportunity to highlight how the conservation of important landscapes is helping us. also to unravel the mysteries of the history of our planet « Said Carys Richards, director of communications for the Nature Conservancy of Canada

François Therrien is the curator of dinosaur paleontology at the Royal Tyrell Museum of Palaeontology and says that hadrosaurs were common in their time, something like deer are today An adult animal would be 10 to 13 meters in length The dinosaur de Nathan is young and is probably only three to four meters long

“Nathan’s find is actually important because it’s starting to fill that gap,” Therrien said. “It’s a fossil from that region and that time frame that will give us information about what was going on with the dinosaurs there. 69 million years ago »

Fossils are legally protected in Alberta and according to the museum, the Hrushkins are a perfect example of what to do when someone discovers fossils: take pictures of the bones, record their location using a GPS or Google Earth, report the find to the Royal Tyrrell Museum and, most importantly, leave the fossils intact in the ground as a lot of information is lost when removed from their location

After months of work on the part of museum technicians, the bones are in protective plaster vests and are moved from the canyon to the museum where they will be worked on for over a year.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada site is home to many plant and animal species at risk It is named after Leila Nodwell, who died in April 2000 The Nodwell family entrusted the land to NCC in her memory Leila deeply believed in the importance of maintaining the natural state of the canyon and worked for many years as an interpreter, where she introduced visitors to its many unique features

The dinosaur bones were found on Nature Conservancy of Canada protected land, not on municipal property in Horsehoe Canyon

“I had aspired to be a paleontologist for about as long as I can remember,” he said, “so it’s pretty amazing to finally find something real that’s big”

Nathan Hrushkin and his father Dion look at a cast of a hadrosaur skull with a real fossil of the species held by François Therrien of the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alta.

Dinosaur, Hadrosauridae, Alberta