CALGARY – Staff at the Royal Tyrrell Museum have made a huge, 65-million year old discovery, stumbling upon the remains of a triceratops just east of Drumheller, Alta.

The rare fossils of the triple-horned dinosaur were found near the museum after a former employee spotted the bones becoming exposed by erosion earlier this summer.

The museum's curator of dinosaur palaeoecology François Therrien took a crew to the site to investigate. After 12 days, they uncovered a large "log jam" of bones of the herbivore, including vertebrae measuring 60 cm and ribs nearly two metres long.

Therrien believes the bones may be the partial remains of a large triceratops, based on the shape of the vertebrae and the geological layer where they were found.

The museum said although triceratops remains are common in Saskatchewan and Montana, they are rarely found in Alberta's rich fossil fields.

Until now, the museum had only had the fragmented remains of one triceratops in its collections.

With the new specimen, the Royal Tyrrell said the new bones can used for comparative study.

katie.schneider@sunmedia.ca
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