Ancient mosasaur named Bruce now an official Manitoba emblem - Action News
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Manitoba

Ancient mosasaur named Bruce now an official Manitoba emblem

A scaly skinned, flesh-eating lizard that lived between 65 million and 135 million years ago has been named a new emblem of Manitoba.

The mosasaur, a vicious hunter known as the T-Rex of the sea, hunted in ancient seaway

Bruce the mosasaur at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre in Morden. (Darren Bernhardt/CBC)

A scaly skinned, flesh-eating lizardthat livedbetween 65 million and 135 million years ago has been named a new emblem of Manitoba.

The mosasaur, a vicious hunter known as the T-Rex of the sea,hunted in the ancient Western Interior Seawaythat once covered much of Manitobaduring the Cretaceous Period.

Manitoba's lieutenant governor Janice Filmon has given royal assent to Bill 200, officially making the mosasaur specifically Bruce, whose skeleton is displayed at theCanadian Fossil Discovery Centre (CFDC) in Mordenthe province's "Official Fossil Emblem."

The 13.10-metre-long Brucediscovered in 1974 near Thornhill, just west of Mordenhad been known as the largest mosasaur in Canada, but last year his status was made global and recognized by theGuinness WorldRecord book.

The CFDC had been working on having a fossil emblem designated for about a year with Morden-Winkler MLA Cameron Friesen developing the private member's bill that became Bill 200.

"I am very pleased to see Bill 200 passed so quickly in the Manitoba Legislature," said Friesen. "Recognizing the mosasaur as an official emblem of the province is a significant development and demonstrates that the CFDC and its marine reptile fossil collection has importance not just for our area but for all Manitobans."

Bruce isthe province's eighth official emblem. The others are:

  • Floral emblem prairie crocus (Anemone patens).
  • Avian emblem great grey owl (Strix nebulosa).
  • Arboreal emblem white spruce (Picea glauca).
  • Soil orthic black chernozem ("Newdale soil").
  • Fishemblem walleye (Sander vitreus).
  • Mammal emblem plains bison.
  • Grass emblem big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii).