B.C. paleontologists seek clues in rare dinosaur tracks

Paleontologists in northern B.C. are poring over rare evidence that the largest dinosaur that ever lived once roamed the province.

In August 2008, a group of coal miners discovered ancient sauropod tracks at a mine near Sparwood, B.C., in the province's southeastern tip near the Alberta border.

Sauropods are a group of giant, plant-eating reptiles that roamed the Earth approximately 150 million years ago in the late Jurassic period.

Until the summer of 2008, there had been very little evidence of the giant dinosaurs in B.C., and paleontologist Rich McCrea said that's what makes the discovery of a path of sauropod tracks so rare and valuable.

"It's one of the major groups of dinosaurs that there was no record of until recently, and it was always a mystery as to why sauropods were not found in Canada," McCrea said. "We've been doing paleontology for over 100 years and not a bit of bone or scrap of tooth, and now we have a track-way."

Cast made of tracks

McCrea, the curator of the Peace Region Paleontology Centre in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., made a cast of the dinosaur's metre-long tracks, impressed upon a vertical slab of rock nestled in the Rocky Mountains.

He and a team of experts are studying the cast in the hopes of learning more about the movements of the ancient creatures. They also plan to revisit the track site to complete more detailed mapping, measuring and photography of the tracks.

Alberta paleontologist Phil Currie said the Sparwood track-way fills in knowledge gaps about the movement of sauropods.

"Now, we have things like this track, which indicate dinosaurs definitely lived in this part of the world. We've just never had bones and skeletons of the animals," Currie said.

After the cast has been studied, it will be on display at the Dinosaur Discovery Gallery in Tumbler Ridge. The public will be able to view the rare specimen when the museum reopens at its new location in 2009.