Royal Tyrrell marks 40th anniversary with groundbreaking dinosaur discoveries

Amir Said · CBC News

· Posted: May 19, 2025 12:25 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

A caller grounds is putting a few of the Royal Tyrrell Museum's most game-changing specimens successful the spotlight.

Breakthroughs, a postulation of 5 past fossils, showcases everything from feathers connected theropods to the feeding habits of tyrannosaurs, with these specimens representing lone a tiny information of the iconic Drumheller museum's collection.

The grounds serves to exemplify "the literal breakthroughs successful technological find that we've made astatine this institution," said Lisa Making, the museum's enforcement director.

"We truly privation to item what makes Alberta specified a unsocial spot for paleontology successful the world, but besides what the Royal Tyrrell Museum has done implicit the past 40 years successful elevating the subject of paleontology astir the world," she said.

Five groundbreaking fossils

Picking lone 5 of the museum's galore specimens, the bulk of which aren't adjacent connected display, was a challenging task, said Craig Scott, manager of preservation and probe astatine the Royal Tyrrell Museum.

Ultimately, the squad narrowed the absorption of Breakthroughs connected fossils from the Cretaceous period, spanning from astir 143 cardinal years agone to the extinction of the dinosaurs astir 66 cardinal years ago.

"This highlights a precise circumstantial play of time, which happens to beryllium the champion represented play of clip successful the province," said Scott, who holds a doctorate from the University of Alberta. "We're fortunate to person specified large practice from this time, and truthful these specimens correspond the precise champion of that time."

The exhibit's lone non-dinosaur specimen is simply a mosasaur, a ample marine carnivore that whitethorn beryllium acquainted to fans of the Jurassic World movie series.

The grounds showcases a young Mosasaurus missouriensis truthful well-preserved that adjacent its cartilage, typically excessively brushed to beryllium fossilized, and its past meal, ample food bones, were near down aft the animal's decease astir 75 cardinal years ago.

"The specimen is exquisite, the preservation unbelievable," said Scott.

A fossilized Ornithomimus, an ostrich-like theropod, is different eye-catching constituent of the exhibit.

The fossil, recovered successful Dinosaur Provincial Park successful 1995, was truthful well-preserved that technicians were capable to find grounds of feathers connected the animal's arms.

"It represents the archetypal North American dinosaur to amusement grounds of feathers," said Scott.

Proving that bipedal dinosaurs similar Ornithomimus had feathers helped further span the spread betwixt birds and dinosaurs.

"These animals apt person feathers connected their forelimbs," said Scott. "Those were evidently not being utilized for flight, these are acold excessively big. They were astir apt utilized for signalling mates similar you spot successful modern birds."

Scott considers Borealopelta markmitchelli, an armoured herbivore that lived 110 cardinal years ago, the crown jewel of the exhibit.

WATCH | Albertan ankylosaur is the world's astir well-preserved armoured dinosaur:

Upon being unearthed successful 2011, the Fort McMurray fossil made waves worldwide — and is inactive being studied — for the singular circumstances nether which it was preserved.

"The conditions astatine the clip of decease had to beryllium perfect," said Scott.

The dinosaur, which astir apt washed retired to oversea aft its decease and was rapidly buried connected the oversea floor, was truthful well-preserved that vegetation and adjacent charcoal were recovered successful its stomach.

"Most importantly, it had to beryllium covered up very, precise rapidly with sediment, earlier it could beryllium scavenged and its remains disarticulated," said Scott, emphasizing the one-of-a-kind quality of this peculiar fossil.

Rounding retired the grounds is simply a nesting tract uncovered successful 1987 that contains the eggs of a herbivorous dinosaur called Hypacrosaurus stebingeri — eggs successful which embryos were recovered preserved — and the remains of a young Gorgosaurus libratus, which upon its find successful 2009 was the archetypal tyrannosaur to beryllium recovered with prey inactive preserved successful its digestive system.

Museum continuing to marque an impact

Boasting a postulation of implicit 160,000 fossils and geological specimens, the Royal Tyrrell has been considered a must-visit destination by dinosaur enthusiasts crossed the satellite since it opened successful 1985.

One specified person, Roger Palmer, visited the depository arsenic portion of a travel from the United Kingdom.

"We person an country determination called the Jurassic Coast, which is celebrated for its fossils, but this wholly outclasses thing that you tin spot there," said Palmer.

He had flown to Canada to sojourn household successful B.C., but recovered himself headed to southeastern Alberta to acquisition the unveiling of Breakthroughs astatine the Royal Tyrrell connected Friday.

"I didn't person the faintest thought that determination was this unthinkable richness of past here, that the depth, the prime and the quantity of what you spot present conscionable takes your enactment away," said Palmer.

It's those kinds of responses that Making hopes to perceive from visitors for a agelong time.

"Forty years is simply a singular milestone, but arsenic humans, we look astatine it arsenic middle-aged," she said.

She sees overmuch country for maturation for the Royal Tyrrell, peculiarly astir improved infrastructure and expanding the organization's footprint.

"When we were built, cipher anticipated we'd beryllium welcoming fractional a cardinal visitors from 150 countries," she said. "So we're astatine capableness with our collection, with our visitors. We privation to turn and accommodate and proceed to amusement disconnected the singular resources that are present successful the province."

With astir 2,500 specimens added to the museum's postulation past twelvemonth alone, the depository is monitoring its maturation and looking astatine however to champion proceed providing its programming to visitors from astir the world.

Handling that maturation remains a situation for the museum's team, but to Making it's worthy it.

"The infinitesimal you travel down into the galleries and you commencement watching people, you commencement interacting with people, you spot kids and the look of wonderment connected their faces and the excitement," she said. "It conscionable renews that passionateness and reinforces the joyousness of the enactment that we get to bash present each day."