By MorinvilleNews.com Staff
Edmonton– Less than a month after local interest in dinosaurs caught the public’s attention with the opening of Jurassic Forest outside Gibbons, an eagle-eyed City of Edmonton employee discovered the remnants of the real thing in west Edmonton.
The employee spotted what he believed to be a dinosaur bone while working on a sewage tunnel.
After bringing in Jack Brink, the Royal Alberta Museum’s curator of archeology, Brink sought another opinion from University of Alberta paleontology student Mike Burns.
It was Burn’s opinion that the discovery contains a well-preserved tyrannosaurid tooth, most likely Albertasaurus as well as a large limb bone from the hardrosaur Edmontonsaurus. When Burns and Brink took trip 30-metres below ground they discovered additional dinosaur bones, including a femur and vertebra.
The Royal Tyrrell Museum has confirmed that the find is significant and are sending someone to the site to assist with preserving the fossils as they are uncovered. The bones will be excavated over the next few days and transported to the Royal Tyrrell Museum for further study.
Edmontonsaurus, an herbivore measuring up to 13 metres in length, is believed to have roamed the area between 73 and 65.5 million years ago along with the shorter and lighter Albertasaurus.
