In 1988, Guy Plint, an earth scientist, was studying sedimentary formations in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., dating back 86 million years. During his research, he inadvertently discovered tracks of duck-billed dinosaurs, making the area famous for its prehistoric fossils. Plint, along with a local paleontologist, has delved into the history of these tracks, which are the northernmost recorded in North America, with the nearest similar tracks found in southern Montana.
Published in February, Plint and Dr. Charles Helm co-authored new research on these tracks, which date back to the Coniacian age of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 85 to 89 million years ago. The study reveals a shift in dinosaur species, indicating the emergence of duck-billed dinosaurs as the predominant herbivores after ankylosaurs, the spiky armored dinosaurs, had previously dominated for a decade.
The tracks were preserved in a prehistoric delta in Tumbler Ridge, once a marshy area along an inland sea. The research paper documents the exploration of five sites between 2022 and 2025, leading to the recovery of five individual tracks now housed at the Tumbler Ridge Museum. Eamon Drysdale, the museum’s paleontologist, emphasized the importance of these tracks in understanding the evolutionary turnover of dinosaur species during the Cretaceous period.
The discovery sheds light on a crucial evolutionary period with limited body fossil records, providing valuable insights into the transition between different dinosaur species. The tracks offer a rare glimpse into the ancient dinosaur community that thrived in the region millions of years ago, enriching our understanding of dinosaur evolution during that era.
