Miners Looking for Ammonite Stumble on Rare Complete Fossils of 'Ocean Predators' From 100 Million Years Ago

Evidence of yesteryears is always lurking inside the earth's surface. Organizations and individuals should be vigilant to unearth this evidence for future studies. This is what workers associated with Enchanted Designs, an ammolite mining and jewelry company, displayed when they came face-to-face with the remains of a magnificent creature in 2022, stated Lethbridge News Now. The mining company managed to unearth the remains of two prehistoric creatures from Canada, allowing experts to know more about this famous beast.

The company spotted the fossils of a mosasaur—a prehistoric species that became popular due to the movie Jurrasic Park. The discovery was made in the south of Lethbridge on January 26. The crew initially spotted the skull and shoulder girdle of the species, which lived on Earth in the late Cretaceous period (145.5 million to 65 million years ago). "The guys were just digging this winter and looking for ammonite, and we came across what looked like fossilized bone," explained Enchanted Designs mine manager Michael Shideler, stated Global News. Past studies have claimed that mosasaur was a predator and lived in water bodies. 

The remains were sent for examination to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, and based on the results, the museum sent another team to the site for exploration. The experts found what they believed to be an almost complete skeleton of a mososaur. "We were able to uncover that we had a relatively complete mosasaur from the skull that we had discovered earlier, all the way down to the tip of the tail," said Joe Sanchez, Head Technician at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, stated Lethbridge News Now. The mining officials started their work in a nearby area and again uncovered the remains of a different creature from the same species.

Researchers were delighted by the remains of the two creatures. Such specimens help them understand the lifestyle of these prehistoric creatures. "Any time that we find anything relatively complete like these, it really helps us in our understanding of these specific animals," Sanchez added. He further claims that it will take a considerable amount of time to fully examine these creatures.

The region is known for being the site of many fossil discoveries because of the kind of rocks that are available in the area. Enchanted Designs themselves have come across many remains, Global stated. "It’s quite a large ancient seabed through here, and we’re finding a lot of fossils, which, in turn, we’re finding a lot of specimens for the Royal Tyrrell, which they’re really excited about," Shideler said.

The retreating of glaciers from the area took away with it all the younger rocks, stated Lethbridge News. This allowed more fossils from the Late Cretaceous period to be revealed. "There used to be a seaway that cut through much of North America and the seaway fossils have a better chance of preserving underwater in general. So I mean, mosasaurs lived in these seaways that were cutting across here and then dying in that environment already gives them a slightly better chance of preserving," Sanchez said.

The museum claims that mining as an operation always provides them with new finds, stated The Globe and Mail. They have collected around 30 partially complete mosasaurus skeletons due to mining. "There’s always something new to be learned. One of the things we’ve been tracking the last few years is exactly where in the rock layers they come from. The vertical layer of rock records time," Donald Henderson from the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology explained. "We can see what species are occurring at what different layers and possibly the menu items because these things were the top predators."