The Dinosaur Park Formation is the uppermost geological member
of the Belly River Group - a major geologic unit in southern Alberta - that
contains dense concentrations of dinosaur skeletons, preserved remnants of soft
tissue and abundant remains of other fauna and flora ...
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| Chasmosaurus belli - on display at the Royal Tyrell Museum of Palaeontology |
The area is known as the Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO
World Heritage Site, and is located about two-and-a-half hours drive east of
Calgary, Alberta.
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| View from the entrance in Drumheller looking across the Park |
Scientists come to the park to seek answers to
palaeontological, biological, archaeological and geological questions posed by
the resources found in the park.
Drumheller is the dinosaur capital of the world ... millions
of years ago the area was tropical, which created a great environment for plant
growth and where dinosaurs could flourish.
 |
| The dinosaur 'Edmontonia' |
After a cataclysmic event these dinosaurs were wiped out
leaving only their bones to be discovered years later ... in the 1880s, a Mr JB
Tyrell came looking for coal and found the skull of a dinosaur - named Albertasaurus.
 |
| Stegosaurus' in their environment |
It is estimated that the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta
was laid down about 75 million years ago ... where ye may (with a permit)
research, seek and collect fossils ...
That is D for Dinosaurs ... from Aspects by a British 'girl' in Canada ...
I'd like to direct you to Anabel of Glasgow Gallivanter's blog - as she has written a few more thorough posts on this area of Canada ... so I list them:
Drumheller and the Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleantology ... Anabel's update - she does wax lyrical about the Museum and how excellent it is ...
Dinosaur Provincial Park - see Anabel's post
I'd like to direct you to Anabel of Glasgow Gallivanter's blog - as she has written a few more thorough posts on this area of Canada ... so I list them:
Drumheller and the Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleantology ... Anabel's update - she does wax lyrical about the Museum and how excellent it is ...
Dinosaur Provincial Park - see Anabel's post
Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters
Inspirational Stories
50 comments:
A gold mine of dinosaur bones!
wow! how cool is that. i'd sure like to go there and look for fossils. sounds like an amazing place to learn about dinosaurs and see some skeletons. who would think the Calgary area was once tropical and had dinosaurs roaming around. really interesting.
I have just been given a good reason to visit Canada. I love dinosaurs!
D is for Ursula Dubosarsky
https://suebursztynski.blogspot.com.au/2018/04/a-to-z-blogging-challenge-2018-d-is-for.html
I would like to go there too. Would be fascinating. Although digging them up is somewhat tedious I think.
Another thing I didn't know Hilary. Thanks.
Hey there, Briiish girl in 🇨🇦 Canada. I enjoyed reading about the 🦕 dinosaurs. I became slightly fascinated with them several years back when my youngest had an obsession with dinosaurs and becoming an archeologist when he grew up. The park sounds like a captivating place to visit and dig. I’m all in.
Sorry I haven’t visited sooner. I’m off to a bad start. I fell behind because we began on Easter Sunday. Working hard all week to catch up.
Melissa @
Sugar Crime Scene
Hari OM
Well I never, the second blog I visit tonight, one after the other, with dinosaur theme! Both quite different, and both exciting. (Have you connected with Linda at the Orchard> YAM xx
I had no idea. And am so grateful to learn. Thank you so much. Again.
So happy to see your A to Z posts, and about Canada! Hope to be able to stop by often and learn a lot this month.
https://melaniecrousesblog.blogspot.com/
An expat couple from Drumheller lives in Puerto Lopez. Before it became illegal, they spent every weekend digging for dinosaur bones. They say they bought their first house selling the bones they found.
Hi Hilary. I find palaentology fascinating, so would love this area of Canada. Kim
Dinosaurs seen to have got to many places so good to read about Canada's. Yesterday there were reports of dinosaur tracks on the Isle of Skye.
This is a treasure trove. Second post on dino's today :) can't have too much of a good thing
Isn't it fascinating to think of those giant creatures roaming the earth all those years ago and we can still find out about them through their bones and fossils. Was reading yesterday of the new footprints they have found in Scotland.
Thanks for checking out my dinosaur post. I hope you weren't disappointed that it was only a small part of larger topic. We had been planning to go to Lark Quarry for years as a scientist friend said he thought it was second only to the Great Barrier Reef as the most important site in Australia. The first time we tried to go there ten years ago our car was stolen and we had to return home. Since then the friend has passed on. We tried again last year and made it. In the last ten years it has been enclosed by a building to protect it as people were walking all over the footprints. There are other sites with dinosaur bones in Oz but apparently this is the only one where there is evidence of a stampede.
I have dinosaurs today too :) I never realised there was a dinosaur park in Alberta - I knew about the Burgess Shale and the cambrian explosion, but not the dinosaurs.
Tasha
Tasha's Thinkings - Movie Monsters
My husband has been fascinated with dinosaurs since his early childhood. This has been on his bucket list for years. Maybe one day...Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
I always loved reading about dinosaurs as a kid, and so much has changed since those books I read - colours, feathers, and more - dinosaurs don't seem as alien and remote as they used to, now we have so many links between them and modern life.
Sophie
Ghostly Inspirations - Sophies A to Z
Another great post. Did you ever go to Sudwala Dinosaur Park in Nelspruit, South Africa? It is a lovely park and I have some great photos of my Mum with the dinosaurs. That was in the days when you could walk up to them, I believe they are now fenced (sigh). Take care Diane
I love dinosaurs, and I'm always amazed when they still find 'new' ones, and when ideas change - like their colouring, proliferation of feathers, the way they moved.
I spent a few days in Drumheller and it was amazing. I had never heard of it but my Canadian cousins in Saskatchewan suggested we visit and so pleased that we did. I have told my friends to make sure they go there when visiting Canada. We have a dinosaur area in Australia too, in Winton, Queensland which is also very interesting but Drumheller is fantastic. Thanks for your interesting post.
Such an interesting post!
Interesting, very much so. While we've been through Calgary, we came up from the south and then headed west, but have never been in the prairies east of there.
Fascinating. I live at the Gateway to the Jurassic Coast, another UNESCO world heritage site. It's something I think of often, especially when we walk our dog on the far end of the beach, where it starts.
Did you read about the dinosaur footprints found on the Isle of Skye? It was on the science news this morning.
Fascinating stuff! But Chasmosaurus belli looks like something out of my nightmares, ha!
It's not that I'm not an overt fan of dinos - I am - but what I really like is how studying and contemplating them really helps one begin pondering how old this beloved planet of our is. From that perspective these ancient creatures are mere infants.
I loved visiting here last summer! So fascinating.
Wonderful post. Canada has some amazing paleontological sites. I've spent some time digging into them (virtually, of course).
Great post! I had roommates in university that worked at a ROM paleo site in Alberta for a summer digging for fossils. They took me fossil hunting a few times (in Ontario), and while I never found anything, it's fun like treasure hunting!
Awesome! I love dinosaurs :-)
Before reading this the sum amount I knew of matters palaeontological, was gained from Ross on Friends!
My Friend Rosey - D is for Dining Out
That would be cool to explore. Dinosaurs are overwhelming for me to think about. It all started when I watched my first Godzilla movie as a child. I didn't trust anything that big after that. hee hee. PS my daughter in grade school was determined to become a paleontologist. Instead, she became a psychologist. Welll they both start with a P.
My kids LOVE dinosaurs. I mean, most kids do, right? But it still surprises me when my girls get into them.
Wow, that looks cool:) I gotta take my boys there now!
@ Alex - that could almost be right ...
@ Lenny - it'd be fun to visit ... and for you to be able to search for some fossils - bet you'd find them; it is interesting to be able to remind everyone of our changing world ... a tropical land up here with as you say dinosaurs roaming around. Glad you enjoyed it.
@ Sue - that's good news ... I imagine this park is developed, yet interesting to visit ...
@ Jo - it does sound interesting doesn't it ... yes I'm afraid I don't do digging around either ...
@ Melissa - well hallo lawyerly eagle! Great comment and it seems so many kids get enamoured with palaentology and archaeology as they grow up ... I think the Park would really spark people's interest.
Not to worry - I saw you were family involved ... and that is more important ...
@ Yamini - I've subsequently seen a few more 'D for Dinosaur' posts up ... I did go over to see Linda - thanks for the suggestion ...
@ EC - I knew about them ... because Anabel of The Glasgow Gallivanter visited and wrote about the Park ... it does sound really interesting ... particularly now I'm here.
@ Marcy - thanks so much and I do hope you enjoy your visits ... and learn a little bit about Canada ...
@ Emily - oh how interesting that you have friends down in Ecuador, who used to live in Drumheller. I can understand them regulating the dig activities - too much gets destroyed or not recognised ... amazing that they were able to buy their first house from selling the bones!! Fascinating!!
@ Kim - now I too find all these educative sciences so informative ... I never saw much of South Africa ... someone mentions Sudwala in the Eastern Transvaal as the place to visit - I never got there ...
@ Bob - I'll have to check the Skye reports out ... I expect one of the journals will write up a report ... which will come through. But dinosaurs seem to be around the blogosphere don't they ...
@ Nila - lots to see in the Park ... and yes lots of dinosaur posts.
@ Suzanne - we are living in an age when so much new information is coming to light about our past ... I love it. I gather there are 'new footprints' in Skye, Scotland ... I will need to find out sometime soon ...
@ Linda - no I wasn't disappointed ... I realised your emphasis was on your genealogy ... but it sounds like your Lark Quarry site is particularly interesting - showing us a different species. Oh dear re your efforts to get over there to visit - and I'm sorry to read about your friend passing on. Thanks for the update.
@ Tasha - I haven't got round to all the 'D' sites ... I'd forgotten about the Burgess Shale and Walcott's finds in the early 1900s - I'd seen a tv programme in the UK on it. I really should find out more - or add it in to my A-Z ...
@ Alana - I do hope you can both get up sometime soon to see the Park ... it does sound very interesting ...
@ Sophie - yes hasn't so much changed ... and to think dinosaurs may have been feathered and not all of them scaly ... still rather large to have around.
@ Diane - you know I never did get to the Sudwala Caves - but in fact I've never heard of the Dinosaur park there ... but how lovely that you have those connections via your photos of your mother; sadly we destroy so many things ... by wanting to touch and stroke exhibited items or natural things ... I can understand - but yes sad we can't still get close.
@ Annalisa - I've never been particularly interested in dinosaurs - but Anabel of Glasgow Gallivanters .. she commented below .. wrote some amazing posts (more erudite) on this Park. It is interesting how much more we keep finding to learn ... like you I love it.
@ Rosemary - lovely to meet you ... I've never been to Drumheller ... but think I might make a go of getting to visit ... I gather you've got a couple (at least) dinosaur sites in Oz ... with some different species - which would be interesting ...
@ Arleen - thank you ...
@ Mike - Anabel of Glasgow Gallivanter wrote some posts on their visit ... so I was aware - and when trying to decide on D - realised that's what I'd use. However I was fascinated to learn more - and might try and get to visit ...
@ Ellie - you do live at the gateway to the Jurassic coast and I was fascinated to read about Mary Anning. Lucky you to live in such a beautiful part of England!! I didn't or haven't yet read about the Skye find ... I'll catch up ...
@ Elizabeth - that Chasmosauras Belli ... is pretty warlike isn't he - has to be a 'he' ... and not a 'she'!!
@ Deborah - yes ... dinosaurs give us a glimpse back ... but there's so much to learn about this incredible planet of ours ... and as you say 'they' are mere infants in the scheme of life on this earth ...
@ Anabel - I meant to add your links in - but circumstances prevailing here ... that got forgotten ... I'll do that before too long! I know your posts were pretty educative ... more than this skim ...
@ Jacqui - yes as Tasha reminded me about the Burgess Shale site ... which is fascinating too ... and understand your interest ...
@ Christine - oh what fun ... that must have been so interesting to be able to join them and 'dig' around - glad I've brought those memories back for you ... I guess there you'd almost always find something of note ...
@ Ronel - thank you ...
@ Keith - ah well you'd be up on me ... 'Friends' I have never seen ... well snippets - but that's it ...
@ Teresa - great to see you ... ah! I never watched Godzilla ... but just wasn't interested - now I am ... what does age do to us!! When one is tiny ... HUGE is too ginormous. How fascinating about your daughter and her decision making ...
@ Crystal - I would think most kids love dinosaurs at least to a point ... but what fun your girls do too ...
@ Mark - I am absolutely certain your boys would love to visit ... one for the future perhaps ...
Thanks everyone - now I must get across and visit you all and a few new A-Zers ... cheers Hilary
Hi, Hilary,
Fascinating topic for your A-Z .... I actually forgot all about the challenge until today! Started an exciting New WIP and I am was so focused on setting it up the past few weeks.
As always, your posts are so informative and INTERESTING! Thanks for sharing~
That picture of "Chasmosaurus belli" at the beginning is the stuff nightmares are made of, isn't it? It'd be funny to discover it was a docile and even friendly dinosaur...
Interesting theme here! Looking forward to seeing more.
That chasmosaurus is some beast! Maybe he'd look friendlier with hair?
Hi Hilary! It would be so awesome to collect fossils. Although, I imagine it's quite tedious and boring. Nothing like what we see in the movies.
Elsie
How I loved dinosaurs as a boy.... and still do!
I remember when I met you on A to Z and was impressed with your detail. I still am!!!
Have fun this year.
Thanks for your visit!!!
Hell yeah this is so cool
Wow. I bet that's a great place for scientists to visit.
very cool - dinosaur history is fascinating. It's amazing how many species roamed about.
Sounds like an amazing place. Dinosaurs will always fascinate us.
@ Michael - well it is different ... but adds a little to everyone else's D for dinosaurs!! So glad things are looking up for you ...
@ John - good to see ... isn't Chasmosaurus belli 'terrible' looking - poor things ... and yes if it was friendly and docile - it'd be very surprising ... good thought for a children's book idea ...
@ Patsy - thank you ... or perhaps he'd look better with feathers ... as per comment above ... fun thought ...
@ Elsie - it would certainly be fun to be able to find some fossils - but as you say rather tedious ... one does need to be dedicated for this sort of work ...
@ TB - I'm not sure I came across them when I was a kid - my brothers I don't think had them ... they were younger than me ...
@ Leslie - thanks so much ... just good to see you again and it's great having the A-Z with an opportunity to get out and meet other bloggers - I'm glad we're in touch ...
@ Jo-Anne ... I hope you're feeling better ...
@ Liz - I think lots of scientists are regularly there ... and it sounds like they've got an amazing research area available at the Museum ...
@ Joanne - it is interesting how many dinosaurs roamed, and how many different ones there are on each continent ...
@ Susan - yes I rather want to go and visit ... I think you're right ... they will always and continue to fascinate us ...
Thanks so much - lovely to have your interested comments - cheers Hilary
I have worked a few digs, we enjoyed this as a family hobby when my kids were younger.
I am still playing catch-up so your short and pithy posts are perfect! But help, another day has come and you are now on F! Wait for me... :-)
Deborah and I are both playing catch-up! Amazing to think of dinosaurs walking the land you are standing on, so many millions of years ago.
@ Steve - that must be so interesting to learn about, especially if you were involving the children and now grandchildren?!
@ Deborah - I hope the rest of the posts are reasonably short, but pithy is an essential in my life! The posts are around for by the look of it many a year yet ...
@ Lynn - the A-Z is always catch up for all of us I think. But it is extraordinary to think that dinosaurs happily lived on the land way before us lot!!
Cheers to the three of you- thanks for your visits - Hilary
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