Alberta Palaeontological Society
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Alberta Palaeontological Society
@abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
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Official account of the Alberta Palaeontological Society, a society dedicated to bringing together professional and avocational palaeontologist and palaeontology enthusiasts in Alberta.

https://albertapaleo.org
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abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
For this #fossilfriday, a Gorgosaurus libratus at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology! Gorgosaurus was a smaller, faster, and older relative of Tyrannosaurus rex.

#palaeontology #paleontology #dinosaurs #fossils #tyrannosaur #alberta
A closeup of the skull of Gorgosaurus. The mouth is slightly agape, showing the large teeth. Skeletal mount of Gorgosaurus. The body is held horizontally with the skull slightly lower down. It looks as though it is menacing some animal just to the left of the picture.
November 14, 2025 at 1:28 PM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
The 33rd Canadian Palaeontology Conference is taking place next week!

This free, virtual conference will take place Nov 21-22

Register by Nov 17!

Email name, affiliation, and student status to gac.paleontology@gmail.com

www.gacpd.ca/cpc

#palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #dinosaurs
Poster for the conference. The background is a closeup of a nanotyrannus skull with mouth slightly agape. Poster for the event. Background is a shot of a mastodon skeleton seen from the side. Poster for the event. The background is a shot of Dry Island provincial park. You're looking over some plains, with deep valleys carved in. The sides of the valleys are banded with different layers of sedimentary rock.
November 14, 2025 at 3:17 AM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
A great event this week! Bring your fossils and rocks to be identified at the Rock and Fossil Road Show at the Airdrie Public Library!

albertapaleo.org/events/calen... for more information.

#palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #alberta
Poster for the event, with information (same as in post). The background is an image in four parts. The image in the top right is a close-up of a banded stone. On the bottom right is a rock with what looks like a fossil shell. Bottom left is a piece of amber with some insects on it, and top left is someone excavating a fossil bone.
November 12, 2025 at 1:56 AM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
Another great fossil sorting session this Sunday! It was an unusually fishy afternoon with lots of centra, scales, teeth, and fin rays being found.

Next session: Nov. 23 at MRU in Calgary.

albertapaleo.org/events/fossi...

#palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #microfossils #eocene
A fish centrum through a microscope. There are many different pebbles in the field of view. The centrum (backbone) itself is in the centre of the field of view and is a light brown in colour. It looks almost like a brown satellite dish. The end of the vertebra is circular and concave inwards, with rings being clearly visible. Around the side of the vertebra are small protrusions sticking out. A ray tooth plate, found by Gerhard Maier. It's an unusual structure. Roughly rectangular, there are six bands of harder enamel running parallel to the shorter side of the rectangle. When the ray was living these would have been packed together to provide a crushing surface. A picture of an insectivore premolar, found by Labib Chowdhury. The tooth is on the white background of a slide and has a dark-brown enamel top and a lighter dentine root. There are two visible roots. The darker enamel portions are split into three high peaks. An image of a lagomorph incisor found by Vaclav Marsovsky through a microscope. There are a few bits of sand in the view, but not too many. The incisors are quite distinctive, being curved with a black enamel surface. There is a trough in the middle that makes it look like this is really two teeth stuck together.
November 5, 2025 at 1:17 PM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
A bit of a slower week this time, with just one event:

Nov. 6: Palaeo Paint Night with the University of Saskatchewan Paleobiology Club!

For more information, see albertapaleo.org/events/calen...

#palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #dinosaurs #paintnight
A poster for the event. The information is in the post, so no need to go crazy in the alt text! The background of the poster is a skeletal mount of an Acrocanthasaurus, on display at the Tumbler Ridge museum. It's a large theropod (think T. rex and its kin). The mount is positioned so that the head is low to the ground - it looks like it's roaring.
November 5, 2025 at 1:54 AM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
Great day today at Telus Spark Earth Science Weekend!

If you're sad about missing out, don't fear - there's still time! We'll be there again tomorrow (Nov. 2) at Telus Spark, Calgary.

#palaeontology #paleontology #alberta #fossils #dinosaurs #yyc
Three smiling volunteers at the booth! A closeup of a table with lots of fossils on it. In the foreground is a cast of a Smilodon skull with the teeth prominently displayed. A closeup image of a table with fossils on it. A closeup of a poster. The text describes the talk, "What is Under Calgary", by APS president Cory Gross. It's held at Telus Spark at 2:45.
November 1, 2025 at 10:32 PM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
In honour of the new Nanotyrannus paper, here is a wonderful Nanotyrannus cast at Mount Royal University in Calgary!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#palaeontology #paleontology #fossilfriday #fossils #dinosaur #nanotyrannus #alberta
A closeup of the skull of Nanotyrannus, again in profile. The jaws are slightly open with the teeth prominently displayed. The vertebrae and especially the neural arches / epipohyses are particularly obvious and the cervical ribs sweep elegantly down the neck. A cast of Nanotyrannus. This is a view of the entire skeleton, in profile. Nanotyrannus is a theropod (think T. rex, but smaller).
October 31, 2025 at 11:41 AM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
Another great Sunday sorting fossils! It was a spectacular haul with lots of jaw fragments.

Rodent molar: CS Ling
Reptile Jaw: Daegan Kovacs
Phalanx: Labib Chowdhury

Next session is Sunday! albertapaleo.org/events/fossi...

#paleontology #paleontology #fossils #microfossils #alberta #eocene
An image of lots of people sorting fossils. They're looking at microscopes and arranged along a few laboratory benches. An image with two jaws. In the top left is the jaw bone of a mammal. The bone is black with the alveoli (tooth sockets) clearly visible. In the bottom right is a fragment of reptile jaw. The teeth are still present and you can clearly see their attachment to the jaw. A phalanx (finger / toe bone). This is a roughly cylindrical bone with one end flattened up-and-down and the other flattened side-to-side. An image of a rodent molar through a microscope. The top part of the tooth, the enamel, is black and the root is a darker grey. The molar itself is roughly square with prominent knobs.
October 30, 2025 at 2:27 AM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
Another great week for palaeo events!

Oct. 29 - U of A Palaeo Society Halloween Event!
Nov. 1 - 2: Telus Spark Earth Science Week!
Nov. 2: Microfossil Sorting!

albertapaleo.org/events/calen... for more information!

#palaeontology #paleontology #alberta #fossils #dinosaur #halloween
A poster for the U of A Palaeontology Society Halloween event. It's a bunch of text superimposed on a pumpkin with a T. rex head carved out of it. The pumpkin is black and lit from within, giving it a very spooky appearance. A poster for Telus Spark Earth Science Weekend! There's some text over an image. The image is of a person dressed as an 18th century British explorer (tan clothes, pith helmet, &c) cowering before someone in a raptor costume. A poster for microfossil sorting sessions. There's some text superimposed on a picture. The image is of a bunch of people working at lab benches looking through microscopes at microfossils!
October 28, 2025 at 1:53 AM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
The calcaneum (ankle bone) of a rodent from the Eocence Cypress Hills formation was found by one of our volunteers during a fossil sorting session!

albertapaleo.org/events/fossi... for info + sign up.

#palaeontology #paleontology #fossilfriday #fossil #eocene #rodent #saskatchewan #alberta
There are several parts to this image. In the top left we see a picture of a tray of matrix (dirt) being viewed under a microscope. A circle is cut out and magnified to the right, where we can see the fossil, the ankle bone (calcaneum) of a rodent. This is the view through the microscope and so the fossil is surrounded by bits of dirt and is very difficult to see. Below that is another view through the microscope where the dirt has been cleared away and only the fossil is left. On the left is a skeletal image of a rat with the ankle bone highlighted in red. The fossil itself is somewhat long and stick-like, with a protuberance on the end where the tendons would connect to. It's very small and brown.
October 24, 2025 at 10:53 PM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
Come sleep with dinosaurs!

The APS is going for a sleepover at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology Nov. 28 - 29, and you're invited!

Includes tonnes of palaeo activities!

Registration deadline: Oct. 24!

albertapaleo.org/events/field...

#palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #alberta #rtmp
A poster for the event. There's a hand-drawn picture of a T. rex sleeping on the purple ground. Snuggled up next to it is a person, also sleeping. Next to them is a palm tree. It looks like it was drawn by a child, because it was!
October 23, 2025 at 1:41 AM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
Two events this week!

Oct 23, 5 - 7, Edmonton: Lecture by Dr. Caldwell. Hosted by the U of A Palaeo Society!

Oct 26, 1 - 3:30, Calgary: Microfossil Sorting with the APS!

albertapaleo.org/events/calen... for more information.

#palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #dinosaurs #microfossils #alberta
A poster describing the lecture by Dr. Caldwell. It's a large, well-lit photo of Dr. Caldwell, wearing glasses and with long white hair. Superimposed is text describing the time and place of the lecture. A poster describing the microfossil sorting event. The background is an image of a tray of matrix in the viewing field of a microscope. In the top left corner is the Alberta Palaeontological Society logo and in the middle is text describing the time and place of the event.
October 22, 2025 at 12:46 PM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
A beautifully preserved Corythosaurus casuarius skull!Corythosaurus was first discovered by Barnum Brown in the Red Deer River Valley, making this a truly Albertan species!

This specimen can be found in the RTMP.

#palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #dinosaur #hadrosaur #alberta
A picture of the skull of Corythosaurus. The skull looks like a helmet; hence the name. Below it you can see a skeletal drawing of Corythosaurus (credit: Scott Hartman). It's a species of hadrosaur, and the skeletal is shown walking on all fours.
October 17, 2025 at 10:32 PM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
Holy cow is this ever a busy week for Alberta palaeo!

Oct 17: APS Monthly Meeting: Joggins, Nova Scotia
Oct 17 - 18: Dinos After Dark at Barney's Adventure Park
Oct 18: Usask Palaeobiology Club Palaeo Pumpkin Carving!

albertapaleo.org/events/calen...

#palaeontology #dinosaurs #fossils #alberta
A poster for Dinos After Dark at Barney's Adventure Park in Drumheller. There's a T. rex in the centre of the poster in a dark forest. Beneath it and shambling towards the viewer are some zombies. A poster for the Palaeobiology Club palaeo pumpkin carving event. There's an image of a triceratops made from a pumpkin on a green background. A poster for the APS monthly meeting. There's an image of someone pointing to a fossilized tree trunk. A poster for the presentation on ice age horses. There's a presenter wearing black, pointing to a skeleton of a horse.
October 13, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Alberta Palaeontological Society
commondescentpod.bsky.social
This episode, we explore how Dinosaur Provincial Park earned its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, we list off some of the famous dinosaurs who once lived there, and we discuss a fraction of the many fossil discoveries that have been made at the Park since the late 1800s.
Episode 228 – Dinosaur Provincial Park
Listen to Episode 228 on Podbean, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts! Take a trip to Alberta, Canada and you can visit a vast stretch of badlands that contains some …
buff.ly
October 12, 2025 at 2:00 PM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
A new tyrannosaur from Mongolia - Khankhuuluu mongoliensis, the 'dragon prince of Mongolia' - changes how we understand tyrannosaur evolution!

Changes in development and movement from NA to Asia and back!

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#palaeontology #fossils #dinosaurs #tyrannosaur #alberta
A picture of the first page of the paper. It's largely just text. An illustration of how changes in developmental timing can affect species. At the top are the skeletals of three dinosaurs: Khankhuuluu and then a juvenile and adult Gorgosaurus. It's clear from the illustration that the skull of Khankhuuluu looks somewhat slender and light, like the juvenile Gorgosaurus. There's also a cutout / magnification of Khankhuuluu's skull above the skulls of Alioramus and Tyrannosaurus. Again, it's clear that the skull of Khankhuuluu resembles that of Alioramus (the more 'juvenile' looking one) and less like Tyrannosaurus (the more 'adult' one). An image of the biogeography of the tyrannosaurs. At the bottom is a scale of the geological time periods, showing when the different species lives. Going across the page is a phylogeny of the tyrannosaurs. Toward the right Khankhuuluu is highlighted, just outside of Eutyrannosauria. You can also see the position of Albertosaurus (early-branching member of Eutyrannosauria) and right at the end, Tyrannosaurus rex. Toward the left is a globe showing North America and Asia. There are arrows showing that tyrannosaurs moved from Asia -> NA and then back again. An image of Khankhuuluu by Julius Csotonyi. It's a medium sized theropod. In the image it's standing with its head cocked down. It's covered in brownish / red fine fur or scales and the tip of the snout and a ridge above the eyes are blue.
October 12, 2025 at 5:24 PM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
New paper from U of A's @chrissygarros.bsky.social and team: ordinary troodon foot bones turn out to tell an extraordinary story! Careful study revealed injuries, growth patterns, and three(~) distinct growth trajectories.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#palaeontology #fossils #dinosaurs
An image of the first page of this paper; it's largely just text. A complicated image. The background is a map of Alberta, showing the relative position of Dinosaur Provincial Park with respect to Calgary and Edmonton (east and slightly south of Calgary; east and quote south of Edmonton). In the bottom right is a skeletal of a troodon (a small theropod dinosaur) with the metatarsals (lower foot bones) highlighted in red. In the top right is a blown up image of the lower leg / foot, again with the metatarsals highlighted in red. To the right of that are images of cross sections of the bones showing distinctive growth lines. Another composite image. In the middle is a large image of two metatarsal bones with a plane through them showing where the bones were cut. Surrounding that are several different images of the cross sections, again showing growth lines and other elements of the histology. Finally, some graphs! On the left are two line graphs, both showing a roughly linear trend. These come from one set of metatarsals. On the bottom is another set of line graphs. In this one there are two main lines, plus a shorter one that can be ignored. Both of the lines show a sigmoidal (s-shaped) curve, with one substantially above the other. This indicates roughly the same trajectory, but with one individual achieving a much larger size than the other. The difference in the sigmoidal curves is probably due to injury. The difference between the linear growth and the sigmoidal one is unclear - it could be species differences, sex differences, population differences, or something else entirely!
October 11, 2025 at 10:27 PM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
A hadrosaur fossil turned hoodoo! In the Horseshoe Canyon Formation, erosion (up to 4 mm/year) leaves tougher fossils standing tall as the softer rock wears away.

#FossilFriday #palaeontology #hadrosaur #dinosaur #alberta
A close-up shot of a hoodoo formed from a hadrosaur bone. The fossil is sitting on a pedestal of softer stone. There's a pocket knife next to it for scale.
October 10, 2025 at 11:39 AM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
Two events at the RAM.

Sat, Oct 11: Learn about the ice-age horses that use to live here.
Sun, Oct 12: Learn about how palaeontologists can use dinosaur teeth to learn more about them.

royalalbertamuseum.ca/whats-on.

#palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #dinosaurs #iceage #horse #alberta
A poster containing the same information as the post. To the right is the text, and to the left is an image of a horse skeleton. A presenter is motioning to the skull. A poster describing the same information as in the post. The text is to the left and to the right is an image of a theropod skull with a large toothbrush being held behind it.
October 7, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Reposted by Alberta Palaeontological Society
gsanta5.bsky.social
www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...
Mastodon bones found in backyard in Orange County, New York
The more they dig, the more mastodon remains they find in Orange County, New York. The Ice Age mammals went extinct 11,000 years ago.
www.cbsnews.com
October 4, 2025 at 4:06 AM
Reposted by Alberta Palaeontological Society
arctomet.bsky.social
Ashbaugh, A.J., Jamniczky, H.A. & Theodor, J.M. Tying the knot between morphology and development: using the patterning cascade model between cheek teeth to study the evolution of molarization in hoofed mammals. J Mammal Evol 32, 23 (2025). doi.org/10.1007/s109...
Tying the knot between morphology and development: using the patterning cascade model between cheek teeth to study the evolution of molarization in hoofed mammals - Journal of Mammalian Evolution
Hoofed mammal premolars show a range of occlusal crown morphology from molariform to caniniform, and the position of taxa on this spectrum can be described as the relative molarization of the premolars. Molarized premolars function together with the molars in grinding mastication in which these unique premolars appear. The degree of molarization varies across dietary ecologies, which has led to cheek tooth morphology being designated as an important contributor to dietary predictions in extant and extinct taxa. Recent research into mammalian occlusal cheek tooth patterning have found independent patterning mechanisms of the premolars and molars. A research gap exists in understand how molarization of the premolars has occurred so frequently in hoofed mammals if these dental regions are independent in their patterning. In this study, we tested the application of the patterning cascade model to the lower premolar-molar boundary in hoofed mammals using a geometric morphometrics framework. We used 2D geometric morphometrics to study occlusal cuspid covariation at the lower p4-m1 boundaries of 16 artiodactyl and 18 perissodactyl species. Phylogenetically informed modularity analyses were used to test alternate a priori hypotheses originating from evolutionary, developmental, and functional considerations of cheek tooth morphogenesis. Our results showed artiodactyls and perissodactyls differ significantly in their p4-m1 boundary covariation patterns, which we hypothesize could be caused by heterochronic shifts between premolar and molar development. To our knowledge, our study is the first to contribute a comprehensive yet accessible 2D geometric morphometric method to further investigate the evolution of molarized premolars.
doi.org
October 5, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Reposted by Alberta Palaeontological Society
ferwen.bsky.social
#FossilFriday ‘Black Beauty’, one of the smallest-known specimens of Tyrannosaurus rex, displayed at The Royal Tyrell Museum in Calgary, Alberta.
wp.me/p3ihHu-1MX
October 3, 2025 at 9:51 PM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
Did you know that mastodons used to live in Alberta? This jaw was found in Edmonton and is currently housed at the Royal Alberta Museum. Mastodon are relatives of elephants and have very distinctive jaws and teeth.

#fossilfriday #palaeontology #paleontology #mastodon #fossils #mammals #alberta
Two lower jaws of a mastodon in a museum display. The teeth have very high cusps. In the corner is a skeletal of a mastodon next to a person, showing that the person roughly comes up to the mastodon's shoulder.
October 3, 2025 at 12:27 PM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
The 33rd Canadian Palaeontology Conference will be held online November 21–22. Registration is free, with sessions via Zoom in the afternoon and evening. Register by November 17 by emailing gac.paleontology@gmail.com.

www.gacpd.ca/cpc

#palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #conference #gac #cpc2025
Poster describing the dates of the conference and how to attend. The background is of a palaeontologist wearing a purple hat, green shirt, and brown pants in a small pit. At the bottom of the pit are some brontothere bones. The palaeontologist is holding a small, white object which she is examining closely. A poster describing that the conference will be held over zoom. The background is the famous T-rex fossil Black Beauty. It is an adult Tyrannosaur with its head arched back. A posters describing that there is no registration fee and that a zoom link will be sent to the participants. The background is a close-up picture of a rugose coral. From this perspective it is roughly circular with lines radiating from the centre. The coral is embedded in a brownish stone. A poster describing how to register: email gac.paleontology@gmail.com with you name, affiliation, whether or not you're a student, and the subject line "CPC 2025 Registration". The background is a close-up view of the badlands. There's a large hadrosaur bone eroding out of the ground, with a geology hammer next to it for scale.
September 27, 2025 at 11:04 PM
abpalaeosociety.bsky.social
Growth series of Pachyrhinosaurus humerus bones!

The Pipestone Creek bonebed near Grande Prairie preserves thousands of these horned dinosaurs, letting us study a whole population across ages. This is from the Philip J. Currie Museum!

#fossilfriday #palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #alberta
September 26, 2025 at 12:30 PM