There are 2 times in your life (unless you’re a paleontologist) that you’ll know everything about dinosaurs: when you’re a kid and when you have a kid. There’s no in-between. When you have a dino-loving kid they know literally everything anyone could possibly know about anything. Kids. Love. Dinosaurs. It’s a great thing that we live in Alberta, because Alberta has a lot of dinosaurs! That’s why we’ve come up with 3 factoids about Albertan dinosaurs you can stash in your back pocket next time your little scientist thinks they know everything there is to know about the giant lizards.
One of the best fossils ever found (ever) was right here in Alberta.
The Nodoasur fossil was found at the Suncor mine just north of Fort McMurray Alberta. The Nodosaur was a heavily armored, plant-eating dinosaur was related to to the ankylosaur and paleontologists didn’t even know this dinosaur existed until they found it! You can see the Nodosaur in real life at the Royal Tyrrell Museum
Alberta has a dinosaur named after it!!
At four years old your kids might not have a clue what an “Alberta” is, geography is a tough topic at that age but it might help them learn about their province if they could pinpoint where this dinosaur roamed. Unable to get over the mountains and unwilling to go into what is now known as Saskatchewan, the Albertosaurus roamed Alberta in packs terrorizing duckbilled dino’s (this is seriously a thing click here for proof). The Albertosaurus was about half the size of a T-Rex but very similar in features.
Ankylosaurus? Yeah He’s Also a hometown hero
Alberta had cool dinosaurs like the Albertosaurus, but also, the Ankylosaurus and the Edmontosaurus. Ankylosaurus had a massive tail club that he could swing around and hit other dinosaurs he didn’t like. The ankylosaurus was a herbivore and his fused armour on his/her body was great to protect him/her from other dinosaurs. The Edmontosaurus was a duck-billed dinosaur (stay out of Albertosaur’s way little buddy) and was also a herbivore. Edmontosaurus lived in packs and may have had loose skin around it’s neck that they could blow like a balloon up for party tricks, but most likely so that it would scare off other dino’s or attract the opposite sex.
So there you go, next time your little scientist pulls at you with some mega dinosaur facts, you’ll be ready with some pretty stellar regional dinosaur factoids.If you haven’t already been, you should make the trip to Drumheller to see the Royal Tyrrell Museum. We’ve taken our kids and done some of the breakout classes and they’re incredible.