Page 5 - Dinosaur Provincial Park flipbook.ai

Part One

Part One

THE DINOSAUR

Imagine a low, marshy area consisting of small
subtropical lakes, streams and eltas. That was how
Dinosaur Privincial Park appeared durng the Upper
Cretaceous period (Mesozoic Era), 70-80 million
years ago, on the northern extremity of the
once-great Bearpaw Sea. The Bearpaw extended
northwest from the Gulf of Mexico, covering most
of south-eastern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan,
southwest Manitoba and large sections of the
United States. Ammonite molluscs (large shell in photo) were a major
Dinosaur Provincial Park was a varitable tropi- source of food for Mosasaurs in the late Cretaceous period
cal paradise, but it had its share of chaotic moments
in natural history. Floods were frequent. Volcanic breadfruit, sycamores, chestnut, magnolias, fig trees
ash from as far away as southern British Columbia and other ubiquitous flora.
and Washington State blanketed the ground. Torren- Today Dinosaur Provincial Park boasts over 30
tial downpours followed. The earth was still in a different species of dinosaurs. Creatures like Alberto-
tremendous period of transition. saurus, Stenonychosaurus and Lambeosaurus once
The humid climate, somewhat like the Louisiana foraged and fought together here, striving to co-exist in
Bayou country of today, supported lush vegetation. a wild and primitive land. These giants of the past
Swamps and marshes abounded with cattails, which existed for ten million years before their mysterious
camouflaged the primordial slitherings of turtles, demise. Over 500 museum-calibre specimens have
crocodiles, rays, salamanders, sharks, sturgeons and been removed from Red Deer River valley and are on
small fish-eating reptiles. This prehistoric everglade display at institutions the world over.
also spported the long-necked Plesiousaurs and Of the four different dinosaur levels in Alberta, the
Mosasaurs, which grew to lengths of ten metres (33 Oldman formation at Dinosaur Park has provided
feet). Inland, the dryer grounds made way for giant paleontologists (also known as paleobiologists) with an
Metasquoia (ancestors of the redwood), tree ferns, abundance of fantastic finds.

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