Page 28 - DINOSOUR ATLAS

north america
Provincial Park

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One Of the wOrld’s great dinosaur locations is Dinosaur Provincial Park, 3FE %FFS 3JWFS
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along the Red Deer River in southern Alberta, Canada. In 1910, after a
farmer found dinosaur bones on his land, paleontologists began to
study the area. Almost 40 different species of Late Cretaceous )DDESLEIGH
dinosaur have been found here, including Corythosaurus, 0ATRICIA $INOSAUR
0ROVINCIAL 0ARK
Centrosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, and Euoplocephalus. They lived
about 75 million years ago, when the area was marshy land
at the mouth of a river and the climate was warm. Today,
Dinosaur Provincial Park is a vast area of rocky, arid land. u site location
Dinosaur Provincial Park was established in
Bone on top 1955, and in 1979 it became a World Heritage
of its skull was
10 in (25 cm) thick Site. The park covers 28 sq miles (73 sq km).

,

, pachycephalosaurus albertosaurus
Four kinds of pachycephalosaur and centrosaurus
(thick-headed) dinosaur have been found at Albertosaurus was the
Dinosaur Provincial Park, of which Pachycephalosaurus alBeRtosauRus area’s top predator,
is the largest. A plant-eater, it may had long, powerful a meat-eater that
have put its thick skull to hind legs preyed on the
use in headbutting abundant herbivores,
contests. such as Centrosaurus.
each foot
had three
clawed toes

centRosauRus was a big
animal, with enough meat
d ever-changing landscape on it for many meals
Rock layeRs
The area was once a subtropical forest of giant are 400 ft (120 m)
redwood trees and palms, swamp grass, and reeds. deep, formed over
Rivers flowed through here, shedding sediments that 2 million years
set into layers of rock. Time passed until, 12,000
years ago, meltwaters from retreating glaciers cut
through the rock, leaving the
terrain seen today.

did you know? , euoplocephalus
. A Centrosaurus bone bed was unearthed This strange-looking dinosaur is the only
in Dinosaur Provincial Park—it held the species of ankylosaur (armoured dinosaur)
remains of more than 50 individuals. found at Dinosaur Provincial Park.
Scientists believe that they may have A two-ton plant-eater, its head and
been washed away together by a storm. back were covered in bands of bony
nodules, and its tail ended in a
heavy bone club. Even its eyelids
had a layer of bone over them. These features were
for self-protection, shielding Euoplocephalus from
meat-eating predators.
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