16 jun 2012
May was a busy month for paleontologists from the Royal Tyrrell Museum. They were called out to Syncrude’s North Mine near Fort McMurray May 7 and then again May 11 after the discovery of rare marine reptiles reminiscent of elasmosaurs. The May 11 find was made by sharp-eyed Syncrude shovel operator Jason Young during routine work.
“I think these discoveries are very exciting for our entire organization and employees,” said Will Gibson, a spokesman for Syncrude Canada Limited. “There’s not many jobs when you can go to work and uncover artifacts or fossils with this type of significance.”
Syncrude’s shovel operators have developed a set of protocols for whenever they see anything unusual in the spaces they are digging. It is paying dividends. In November 2011, another fossil skeleton was discovered on the Syncrude site.
Syncrude has built a strong working relationship with the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. Staff there have the job of recovering the fossils.
“We can never find (the fossils) without the mine people,” said Donald Henderson, the museum’s curator of dinosaurs. “We need their eyes. The shovel operators have to spot it and pay attention. It’s good that they tell us.”
As part of Syncrude’s mining agreement they have to report any significant fossils. Any finds become property of the Crown and the Royal Tyrrell team comes in to do the extraction.
The May 11 find was particularly exciting as the skeleton was 70 to 80 per cent complete and had 90 per cent of the animal’s skull.
“There is so much detail in the skull,” Henderson said. “The skull because it’s such an important component, like the sense organs the brain and that stuff, evolution doesn’t tinker with it ... so when you get a skull it gives you a nice map into the relationships between animals. Plus, it’s always nice to put a face on the animal.”
Three finds in one location are exceptional.“Big animals are always rare,” said Henderson. “Something about the Fort McMurray locality, the ancient conditions at the time, the wind and water currents made it a good place to become a fossil.”
It will take about a year to prepare just one of the fossilized skeletons for storage or display.
“We always want to get this stuff out, but you need patience in this game. It takes time to get them prepared. Getting new exhibits done is a big deal,” Henderson said.
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