A 72 million-year-old dinosaur skull was discovered near Grande Prairie and is receiving international attention.
It’s from a Pachyrhinosaurus, the name translating to thick-nose lizard. On average, the dinosaur can grow up to 8 metres in length and weigh as much as 44 human adults.
The skull was discovered by the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum’s paleontology team. They have named the skull “Big Sam”.
“It’s one of the biggest fossils we’ve ever pulled out of the bonebed,” said Dr. Emily Bamforth, paleontologist and Curator at the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum.
The first bone was found in June 2023 while the team was digging at the Pipestone Creek Bonebed, just outside of Grande Prairie. By the time the team discovered it was a full skull, it was October. That made it too late in the season to remove a fossil of that kind, so they buried it in for …