New species of dinosaur found in Alberta Badlands, named Hannah for now

Anew species of dinosauris so recentlydiscoveredit doesn't even have a name yet so the fresh specimen fromAlberta's Dinosaur Provincial Parkis simplyknown as Hannah,for now.

The species is in the Ceratopsian familythinkCera for those of us who only know dinosaurs from TheLand Before Time and it potentially bridges the evolutionary gap between theCentrosaurus and theStyracosaurus.

Calgary Eyeopener7:12New dinosaur discovery in Dinosaur Provincial Park

A new species of dinosaur has been unearthed in Alberta's Dinosaur Provincial Park. University of Alberta paleontologist Scott Persons, the man who made the discovery, talks about finding the new species.

In fact, Hannah wouldn't be much different from either of those two previously-discovered species, except that its horns show a combination of characteristics from both.

There's still some work to be done, however,to confirmits distinct place in the evolutionary tree.

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Scott Persons, a paleontologist at the University of Alberta, told The Calgary Eyeopenerthat it is by far the most exciting thing he's ever discovered.

"I'm incredibly thrilled, but discovering it in the field, it's a really slow burn," Persons said.

The discovery of the new species was made over the course of days while they extracted the animal's skull last summer.

The primary purpose of a dinosaur's horns were defence, Persons explained, but there was also a social aspect to them.

Evolution would have continued to change the horns of dinosaurs over time, and that's likely what is being seen here with Hannah.

Where she was found in the earth's surface is important, because the Centrosaurus has been found in deeper layers of earth, while the Styracosaurushas been found in higher strata.

Hannahwas found in between the two, which shows it likelybridges an evolutionary gap between the two species.

Hannah's skull was discovered in 2015, and in June this yeartheteam returned to see whatremained of her skeleton to be unearthed.

As it turns out, Hannah's skeleton is nearly complete. The team will return again next summer to complete the dig.

For every hour spent in the field, another 10 hours will be spent in the lab doing analysis, Persons said. That will be where they confirm and document this new species.

"There's still a lot of the work that needs to be done, even though we've gotten a lot of the bones up and out of the field, we still have to do a lot of the very close cleaning and preparation work back at the laboratory,"Persons said.

"Once that's done, we can take the detailed measurements and really start to say for sure what's going on."

Hannah was found horn first, the tip peeking out of the dirt in Alberta's Badlands.

Since Persons was the one to find her, he was the one who earned the right to give her the nickname Hannah, inspired by his beloved dog, who sometimes helps on digs, Persons said.