Southwestern Saskatchewan continues to prove a rich hunting ground for dinosaur fossils, with paleontologists making several significant discoveries this summer, including the rare unearthing of a thoracosaurus tooth. Parks Canada and the Royal Saskatchewan Museum teamed up for their annual Fossil Fever event in mid-August, discovering tail vertebrae from an edmontosaurus, part of a triceratops jaw, and portions of skulls and teeth from large crocodiles. Ryan McKellar, curator of paleontology with the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, said more than 20 researchers and students from across Western Canada, along with members of the public, descended on southwestern Saskatchewan to uncover fossils. “This year was pretty good in terms of dinosaur bones we recovered,” he said. Rare thoracosaurus tooth found in Grasslands McKellar said their prized find was a thoracosaurus tooth discovered in Grasslands National Park. “One of the coolest finds for me was one of the teeth from a crocodile, they're something called a thoracosaur,” he said. “They're really large crocodiles, sort of like Big Bert, the crocodile found up by Carrot River in the 2000s. In this case, we're talking about crocodiles with teeth that are one and a half to two inches long, just a massive animal.” The thoracosaurus lived during the Late Cretaceous and Early Paleocene periods, with the local find representing only the second record of its kind in Canada. “It's neat that it's only the second record of its kind from Canada,” he said. Related Stories: Dinosaur fossils discovered at Sask Landing SCOL's top ten of 2024: #10 Duo of groundbreaking discoveries Rare Fossil Discovery Near Climax Swift Current Fossil Adventure a "Great Opportunity" for Family Fun During Pandemic, Says Local Judge Fossil teeth helping researchers answer questions The discoveries of dinosaur, crocodile and fish teeth in southwestern Saskatchewan were also critical to a research project by University of Regina Master of Science graduate Ben Egan, who completed his degree in 2025 and began a PhD at the university in 2026. McKellar said the fossils can provide vital information about the animals. “How carbon is moving through food webs, or how oxygen tells you a little bit about how close you are to the coastline in ancient settings,” McKellar said. “It allows Ben to take a look at migration patterns in dinosaurs, what they're eating.” Egan was scouring the Frenchman River Valley as part of his research project, examining the teeth to learn more about the animals that lived in the area. “It's not the exact same bone layer or bone bed that produced Scotty the T. Rex, they're something called microsites, where we've got a whole bunch of teeth and scales, concentrated by ancient rivers and streams,” he said. “We're able to collect a whole bunch of little teeth or scales and use those to answer questions about the animals that were around at the time.” Research extends beyond southwest Saskatchewan The third project worked on by research students took place in southeastern Saskatchewan near Estevan, where they examined coal seams and surrounding rocks. “We were looking at the coal seams for things like amber, the tree resin that's left behind, it fossilizes and becomes amber,” he said. “We're looking at that, trying to find insects for a time window where we don't really have amber deposits globally.”