12-Year-Old’s Unexpected Discovery of a 69-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Fossil Rocks Scientific World
“[The dinosaur remains are] from a layer in Alberta where they don’t have a lot of fossil information,” said Dion Hrushkin, Nathan’s father. “So that’s why they were very excited to come and excavate it because it fills a scientific knowledge gap.”
Following the recovery of the fossil, which was part of the hadrosaur’s arm, researchers have uncovered between 30 and 50 bones in the canyon’s wall, all belonging to the same individual dinosaur. The fossil specimens were removed in protective jackets made of burlap and plaster and brought back to the museum lab for further analysis.
Nature Conservancy of CanadaThe father-son duo hope to see the dinosaur they found shown in a museum one day.
Based on early examinations, researchers established that the dinosaur had been a juvenile hadrosaur that was about three or four years old. While hadrosaurs are the most commonly found specimens in Alberta’s badlands region, only very few juveniles have been uncovered.
“These animals were probably the most common in Alberta in the late Cretaceous period, they were probably as common as deer were today,” François Therrien, a paleontologist at the museum, told Canadian news outlet CBC.
The fact that the fossil was located inside layers of canyon rock dating back 69 million years ago is also noteworthy since “fossil discoveries are rare in this geological layer,” according to the NCC. The experience of uncovering a real dinosaur fossil has been a dream come true for Hrushkin.
“For me it’s just amazing because I’ve been aspiring to be a paleontologist for as long as I can remember,” the preteen said.
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