138. Dinosaur footprints

138 - dinosaur footprint

1994

Historic Dunvegan Provincial Park

These footprints were left by one of Dunvegan’s earliest residents, the Tetrapodosaurus borealis that lived in this area nearly 90 million years ago. Tracks in the mud from this long extinct creature were preserved into the modern day. They were discovered by the Stojan family when they were hiking one day on the bank of the Peace River, just east of the Dunvegan bridge. In October 1994, the block of sandstone containing the footprints was removed from the bank and taken to the Royal Tyrell museum to be safely preserved. The cast, then made, is depicted here. These footprints are so detailed that you can even see impressions of Tetrapodosaurus’s skin. When found in 1995 it was the first footprint found with skin impressions from a quadruped dinosaur. It remains one of the best examples of skin impressions from tracks found to date.