An artist's conception of the bird
A new species of prehistoric bird has been discovered in Grasslands National Park.
The species was a loon like bird with teeth that existed around 65 million years ago in the time of the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops.
"70 million years ago they were a primarily a non-flying toothed bird that lived in coastal systems and fed on fish," said Curator of Paleontology for the Royal Saskatchewan Museum Tim Tokaryk. "65 million years ago in southern Saskatchewan, this group still existed before the extension event but are unrelated to the previous group."
Our region is a fertile ground for paleontologists.
"Southern Saskatchewan has one of the best records of the last geological moments before the extinction event," Tokaryk said. "Figuratively and literally we are crawling all over these rocks to understand why certain species survived the extension event and why certain species like this birds didn't survive."
Research will continue on the fossils found and searches will be performed to look for more.
Interview with Tim Tokaryk:
Sat, Apr 20, 1:00 PM
Agriculture, Transport
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