An oil company employee working in northwestern Alberta has unearthed the stunning fossilized remains of what is believed to be a massive duck-billed dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Period.
A Tourmaline Oil Corp. worker was operating heavy machinery when he stumbled upon the remains. He contacted officials at the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum in Grand Prairie who have since sent a team to excavate and safely remove the fossil.
It’s about 7 to 10 feet (2-3 meters) long, and it appears to be the tailbone of a hadrosaur, a herbivore that was probably 32 to 50 feet (10-15 meters) in length. The work crew is digging around it — and they think there’s much more to the fossil back in the hillside.
According to Brian Brake, executive director at the Currie museum, the specimen is one of the “most complete finds in a long time in this part of the world.”
Related: 16-foot dinosaur tail unearthed in Mexico is in perfect condition.
