Fossil from 60M years ago found on Olds campus

'At first glance we thought it was a dried banana peel.' Leona Megli

An employee at Olds College, near Red Deer, has found an ancient fossil.

Leona Megli, who previously attended the college and now works as groundskeeper, found the fossil of a Champsosaurs which is a semi-aquatic fresh water reptile.

It resembled a small crocodile and was about two metres long.

Megli says she found it encased in a rock whilelooking for other rocks in the area for a landscaping project.

"At first glance we thought it was a dried banana peel," Megli explained.

"At closer glance we realized it was something much more valuable, but the last thing you think you'd find in your job is a 60-million-year-old fossil."

According to officials at the Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller, Alta.where the fossil is now being keptit is only one of two found in North America.