Museum History: Fossil Finds
During the summer of 1961, Museum staff excavated a 70 million year-old mosasaur. The 9 metre (30 foot) long, seagoing lizard was discovered on the south shore of Lake Diefenbaker. The mosasaur provided evidence that the great sea that covered much of the interior of the North American continent during the late Cretaceous period, 70-100 million years ago, also covered a section of Saskatchewan.
Mosasaur skeleton on display in the Earth Sciences Gallery.
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The skeleton of a 12,000 year-old woolly mammoth was discovered by a road crew near Kyle on October 19, 1964. The archaeologists and palaeontologists hoped to find evidence that the mammoth had been killed by ancient hunters. Alas, it appeared that the mammoth had died of natural causes. |
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A complete skull of a Triceratops, a three-horned dinosaur, was discovered south of Shaunavon, Saskatchewan, in 1967. It is very rare to find a complete skull of a Triceratops, and it reveals a large amount of information about that animal. This information increases our knowledge about Saskatchewan during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 72-65 million years ago. |
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The nearly complete skeleton of a 37 million year-old brontothere was discovered near Eastend, Saskatchewan, in 1973. Because the skeleton is almost complete and well preserved, palaeontologists are able to gain a large amount of information, such as size and proportions, about the brontothere. |
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RSM scientists excavated the skeleton of a Terminonaris, a 7.6 metre (25 foot) long, 92-million-year-old crocodile, near Arborfield and Carrot River in 1991. "Big Bert" is the best preserved skeleton of that animal worldwide and helps scientists develop a picture of Saskatchewan in the Late Cretaceous period, about 85 to 100 million years ago. At the end of the Cretaceous period, about 70% of the species became extinct, which is similar to today's extinction rate. Information about the Cretaceous can provide insights that are relevant to environmental changes occurring today, such as global climate change and the recent increases in global extinction rates. |
For further information contact the RSM Information Desk.
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