AIM:

1. WHAT IS A FOSSIL?
2. ALBERTA FOSSILS?
3. HOW ARE THEY PROTECTED?
4. WHAT IS A PALAEONTOLOGIST?

FOSSILS

FOSSILS ARE:

THE REMAINS OR SHAPES OF ANCIENT

PLANTS AND ANIMALS THAT HAVE
TURNED TO STONE
FOSSILS TELL US THAT ALBERTA WAS
COVERED WITH A SEA MILLIONS OF
YEARS AGO
DOES ALBERTA HAVE LOTS OF FOSSILS?

YES

ALBERTA HAS MANY MANY FOSSILS!

PLANTS AND ANIMALS WERE BURIED QUICKLY HERE AND

KEPT IN LAYERS OF ROCK AND DIRT.
NOW OUR EROSION FROM WIND AND WATER UNCOVER
THESE FOSSILS QUICKER THAN ANY OTHER PLACES IN THE
WORLD.

BUT WHAT HAPPENED WHEN

WE TAKE A FOSSIL?
Am I allowed?

TAKING FOSSILS?

BACK THEN:
You were allowed to take these fossils.
They did not belong to anybody.

NOW:
You are NOT allowed to keep it without
permission.

The fossils stay in Alberta and are

When the law was established that you
studied here.
weren't allowed to take fossils, those
people who already had fossils did not The province owns all the fossils and
people are allowed to collect but must
have to report having anything.
report what they find.
A lot of people however did call them
Fossils in certain areas must stay on the
in to paleontologists and museums to
ground and only in these areas are
give to them.
paleontologists allowed to go.

Were fossils worth much value back

then?

The law to protect fossils was released in

1978.

HOW MUCH IS THE FINE IF WE GET CAUGHT TAKING FOSSILS?

$50,000

WHAT DO THEY DO?

PALEONTOLOGISTS?

PALEONTOLOGISTS

THESE ARE SCIENTISTS WHO STUDY ABOUT OLD FORMS OF FOSSILS AND LIFE
FROM YEARS PAST
Who is a very
important
paleontologist at the
University of
Lethbridge?

Dr. Phil Currie

THE ALBERTOSAURUS

WHAT YEAR DID JOSEPH TYRELL DISCOVER THE ALBERTOSAURUS?

1884

What was Joseph Tyrell

actually looking for when
he found fossils of this
dinosaur?

COAL!

GORGOSAURUS

Gorgosaurus is a type of tyrannosaurus

theropod dinosaur that lived in western North
America during the Late Cretaceous period.

ICHTHYOSAURUS

Ichthyosaurus was a large marine reptile that first appeared approximately 250 million years
ago. They were particularly abundant in the later Triassic and early Jurassic Period

PTERANODON
Pteranodon is a genus of pterosaurs which included some of the largest known flying
reptiles, with wingspans over 20 feet

TYRANNOSAURUS
Commonly known as T-Rex, Tyrannosaurus was the largest known tyrannosaurid
and one of the largest known land predators. The most famous dinosaur lived
throughout what is now western North America in the upper Cretaceous Period.

SPINOSAURUS

Spinosaurus may be the largest of all known carnivorous dinosaurs, possibly larger
than Tyrannosaurus and Giganotosaurus. Estimates published suggest that it was up
to 60 feet in length and up to 20 tons in weight. Evidence suggests that it lived both
on land and in water like a modern crocodilian and fed on fish.

WHAT DID EARTH LOOK LIKE

1,000,000 YEARS AGO?