We were up and out bright and early this morning wanting to beat the rush at the Royal Tyrrell Museum...apparently there are huge line-ups to get in.
So we were there just before they opened at 9:00...and the first ones in line. We paid our $18 each admission (good value for the money, in my opinion)...and away we went...(Remember...click on photos to enlarge)
To many people, any object dug out of the ground is considered a fossil. Cattle bones, precious stones and artifacts such as arrowheads are often mistakenly referred to as fossils.By definition, fossils include only the remains and traces of ancient, once-living organisms. To qualify as a fossil, a specimen usually must be more than 10,000 years old. Out of all the millions of species that evolved and lived on this planet since life first began 3.5 billion years ago—out of all the billions upon billions of individual organisms—very few have been preserved as fossils.
To become fossilized, plant or animal remains must be rapidly buried. Organisms that lack hard body parts, such as bones, scales, teeth or shells, are rarely preserved. Soft body parts such as skin, muscle tissue and organs decompose rapidly and are often consumed by predators before fossilization can take place.
Some of the most impressive fossils in our collection were discovered through industry-related activities (residential or industrial construction, mining, oil and gas exploration), or by individuals who recognized the importance of their finds.Ammonites were hard-shelled, coiled, squid-like marine creatures with soft body parts abundant in the oceans during the Mesozoic Era, or the Age of Dinosaurs. Considered the most striking fossilized ammonite shell ever found in Alberta, this brilliant 71 million-year-old fossil was discovered during ammolite mining and was donated to the Royal Tyrrell Museum by Canada Fossils/Korite International.
These guys were alive!
Not much to downtown Drumheller that we saw...
Well, that's it for Drumheller...and dinosaurs and hoodoos. We are leaving in the morning for Cochrane, AB to visit some good friends, Ken and Charlene. Steve and Ken were neighbours in Regina and have known each other since they were about 5 years old...just a little while...LOL!
