McGill University students and paleontologists have documented Saskatchewan’s first known fossil specimens of centrosaurus, a horned dinosaur species, along the South Saskatchewan River. Researchers say it gives a peek into what the province looked like more than 75 million years ago.

Centrosaurus was a herbivorous dinosaur with one horn on its snout and spines around the back of its neck frill.

Researchers say the discovery site at Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park, dubbed the Lake Diefenbaker Bonebed,  reveals an environment unlike any previously documented in Canada.

The partial right parietal found from Lake Diefenbaker Bonebed believed to be from a centrosaurus. (Submitted by Alexandre Demers-Potvin)

Alexandre Demers-Potvin, one of the authors of the study, said the new discovery gives insight into a time long before humans roamed the Earth.

“There seems to be quite an interesting transition in that part of North America between a fully terrestrial fauna and a marine fauna. It was probably a very rich, very diverse habitat,” he said.

The article, published in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, says the new site provides the first look at a coastal habitat in Saskatchewan, showing how large terrestrial dinosaurs like centrosaurus shared space with marine animals.

McGill University students and paleontologists have documented what they say are Saskatchewan’s first confirmed fossil specimens of centrosaurus. (Submitted by Alexandre Demers-Potvin)

Demers-Potvin said the decade-long project included excavations and documentation. In that time, the team also unearthed a rare mix of dinosaur and marine fossils, including “most surprisingly” — the citipes elegans, “a small two-legged dinosaur that would have looked a bit like a chicken with a beak.”

The fossils were prepared and curated at McGill’s Redpath Museum over the past decade after the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM) in Regina approved and loaned them to McGill.

Scotty, the largest Tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered, was put into display at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in 2019. (Matt Howard/CBC)

Ryan McKellar, curator of paleontology at the RSM, says the findings help paleontologists differentiate between Alberta and Saskatchewan’s ecosystems.

“They’re some of the first records from that particular deposit, which makes it an exciting new discovery and provides material for future studies as well,” he said.

“Saskatchewan has a really rich fossil record and I think a lot of people don’t recognize it until they see it represented in museums and things like that.”

Ryan McKellar, curator of paleontology at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina, says collaboration is key to longer term projects like the latest one. (Submitted by Ryan McKellar)

The RSM’s fossil existing collection goes back more than 66 million years ago. McKellar said the new findings give a window to 75 million years ago. He said new material like this gives the museum a chance to reach new audiences willing to learn about paleontology.

“I find it fairly rewarding, a rewarding area to work in, in terms of inspiring kids and getting people interested in science,” he said.

LISTEN | Paleontologists discover Sask.’s first fossil specimens of a horned dinosaur species: 

This study has been decades in the making, including initial exploration of the region. One of the most important contributions, the study says, came from Tim Tokaryk, who initially published on the Lake Diefenbaker Bonebed in 1990.

McKellar said collaboration between institutions, like the recent one with McGill, is essential to furthering knowledge about the history of the earth.

“It’s neat to see some of these deposits or some of these sites being visited by new groups and with more intensive sampling to sort of increase what we know from these areas. It’s great to see these things being rediscovered or re-explored.”