A new fossil site has been discovered near Grande Prairie on the Redwillow River (tributary of the Wapiti River) and is being called Tyrants Aisle.
The name refers to the Tyrannosaurs, a fierce dinosaur predator that lived in the area about 74 million years ago.
A group of researchers led by PhD student Nathan Enriquez from Australia, Italy and Canada have published their work online which can be found here, describing the footprints at Tyrants Aisle.
In 2018, Grande Prairie Regional College provided the team with logistical support during its fieldwork at the location. The water level has since been too high in recent years to carry out further work.
The trackways at this site formed when the area around Grande Prairie was a vast floodplain. According to Enriquez, the dinosaur tracks are from at least three kinds of dinosaurs.
The most common footprints are from duck-billed dinosaurs. There are also at least two types of carnivorous dinosaurs.
The research team says the footprints at the site with three toes are from a tyrannosaur or possibly an Albertosaurus sarcophagus; a smaller relative of T. rex.
Fossil footprints with just two toes are from smaller carnivorous animals called deinonychosaurs, one of the ‘raptor-like’ dinosaurs.
The footprints are submerged in the Redwillow River for much of the year. The work by Enriquez and his colleagues will ensure the important information about the animals that lived in the area millions of years ago will not be lost.
Tyrants Aisle highlights one of many extraordinary fossil sites in the Peace Region. The Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum’s paleontology team, including new Curator, Dr. Emily Bamforth says she is excited to get out exploring and excavating this spring!
– Jared Gomes, Trending 55 Newsroom
