In 1988, Guy Plint, an earth scientist, was conducting sedimentary research in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. While studying 86-million-year-old formations, he accidentally discovered tracks left by duck-billed dinosaurs. Fast forward almost forty years, and northeast B.C. has become a UNESCO Global Geopark renowned for its wealth of prehistoric fossils. Plint has collaborated with a local paleontologist to delve into the history of these tracks.
According to Plint, these tracks are the northernmost of their kind in North America, with the nearest tracks of similar age found in southern Montana. Recently, Plint and Dr. Charles Helm, a local physician and paleontologist, published new research on the tracks. They determined that the fossilized footprints date back to the Coniacian age, a period in the Late Cretaceous epoch, approximately 85 to 89 million years ago.
The research suggests a transition in dinosaur species occurred following the emergence of flowering plants as a food source. Prior to the Coniacian age, ankylosaurs, spiky, armored dinosaurs, dominated as herbivores. However, duck-billed dinosaurs eventually became the prevalent plant-eaters in the region.
The area of Tumbler Ridge was once a prehistoric delta, characterized by marshy terrain adjacent to an inland sea. Plint’s mapping efforts in 1988 focused on this unique geography. The tracks they discovered are the only known Coniacian age dinosaur tracks in Canada, located in the Tumbler Ridge area where terrestrial sediments have been well preserved.
Their recent research involved exploring five sites between 2022 and 2025, resulting in the recovery and curation of five individual tracks at the Tumbler Ridge Museum. These tracks offer a rare glimpse into a thriving dinosaur community during that era, as highlighted in their research findings.
Eamon Drysdale, the museum’s resident paleontologist and curator, emphasized the importance of these tracks in understanding the evolutionary shift in dinosaur species during the early to late Cretaceous period. He mentioned the scarcity of body fossil records from this transitional period, making these tracks crucial for enhancing our knowledge of dinosaur evolution.
In conclusion, the discovery of these dinosaur tracks in Tumbler Ridge sheds light on a significant period in prehistoric history, providing valuable insights into the evolution and diversity of dinosaur species in the region.