'Hellboy' horned dinosaur unveiled in Alberta museum
Bill Kaufmann, Postmedia Network
First posted: Thursday, June 04, 2015 01:45 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, June 04, 2015 01:55 PM EDT
CALGARY - Unearthing Hellboy was no Jurassic lark.
But while the two arduous years spent prying the massive horned dinosaur skull from iron-hard rock on a steep bank of the Oldman River earned the fossil its demonic nickname, it yielded gigantic rewards, Caleb Brown of the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller said.
"The excavation was problematic. The rock it was in was pretty hard. It was at the bottom of the cliff and we couldn't have any rocks falling into the river," Brown said, referring to the environmental regulations protecting the river's bull trout.
"But it was a completely unexpected discovery and its location was the first thing that told us it'd be important."
Normally, such fossils would be found in southeast Alberta and take a single summer to excavate, Brown said.
A decade ago, geologist Peter Hews came upon the skull that now bears his name — Ragaliceratops peterhewsi — at a popular fishing spot on the river near Pincher Creek.
The Royal Tyrrell team spent 2006-08 coaxing the 1.6-metre long, 270-kg skull from the block of siltstone — work that ultimately produced some dino revelations.
The fossil's long nose-horn and radiating frill shield plate has strengthened the theory such bony formations were for show rather than practical protection, Brown said.
"We understand they were for display, to impress a member of the opposite sex or same sex .. .the intimidation of rivals," he said, adding the species hasn't been found anywhere else.
The find also shows a surprising evolution and variety among such dinosaurs — triceratops-related chasmosaurs, Brown said.
"These animals are much more variable — the frills and horns can change much more than we thought," he said.
"We wouldn't have thought this animal with this suite of characteristics existed at this time.
"It highlights what we've been missing."
Ragliceratops peterhewsi would have been five metres long and 1.5 tonnes heavy, with an appetite for hard vegetation, said the paleontologist.
The discovery has attracted considerable international attention and it's expected to draw big crowds at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, where it went on display Thursday.
"We've been looking forward to this for quite a while," Brown, said.
He suspects there's be more of the dinosaur's fossilized ilk lurking in the vicinity.
bill.kaufmann@sunmedia.ca
Twitter: @SUNBillKaufmann
An artistic life reconstruction of a new horned dinosaur scientists named Regaliceratops peterhewsi in the paleoenvironment of the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada released on June 3, 2015. Scientists had a heck of a time getting the remarkable fossil of the dinosaur they dubbed "Hellboy" out of the hard limestone along a Canadian river bank where it was entombed for 68 million years, but the diabolic task proved gratifying. REUTERS/Julius T. Csotonyi/Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, Alberta/Handout via Reuters
'Hellboy' horned dinosaur unveiled in Alberta museum | Canada | News | Toronto S
Bill Kaufmann, Postmedia Network
First posted: Thursday, June 04, 2015 01:45 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, June 04, 2015 01:55 PM EDT
CALGARY - Unearthing Hellboy was no Jurassic lark.
But while the two arduous years spent prying the massive horned dinosaur skull from iron-hard rock on a steep bank of the Oldman River earned the fossil its demonic nickname, it yielded gigantic rewards, Caleb Brown of the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller said.
"The excavation was problematic. The rock it was in was pretty hard. It was at the bottom of the cliff and we couldn't have any rocks falling into the river," Brown said, referring to the environmental regulations protecting the river's bull trout.
"But it was a completely unexpected discovery and its location was the first thing that told us it'd be important."
Normally, such fossils would be found in southeast Alberta and take a single summer to excavate, Brown said.
A decade ago, geologist Peter Hews came upon the skull that now bears his name — Ragaliceratops peterhewsi — at a popular fishing spot on the river near Pincher Creek.
The Royal Tyrrell team spent 2006-08 coaxing the 1.6-metre long, 270-kg skull from the block of siltstone — work that ultimately produced some dino revelations.
The fossil's long nose-horn and radiating frill shield plate has strengthened the theory such bony formations were for show rather than practical protection, Brown said.
"We understand they were for display, to impress a member of the opposite sex or same sex .. .the intimidation of rivals," he said, adding the species hasn't been found anywhere else.
The find also shows a surprising evolution and variety among such dinosaurs — triceratops-related chasmosaurs, Brown said.
"These animals are much more variable — the frills and horns can change much more than we thought," he said.
"We wouldn't have thought this animal with this suite of characteristics existed at this time.
"It highlights what we've been missing."
Ragliceratops peterhewsi would have been five metres long and 1.5 tonnes heavy, with an appetite for hard vegetation, said the paleontologist.
The discovery has attracted considerable international attention and it's expected to draw big crowds at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, where it went on display Thursday.
"We've been looking forward to this for quite a while," Brown, said.
He suspects there's be more of the dinosaur's fossilized ilk lurking in the vicinity.
bill.kaufmann@sunmedia.ca
Twitter: @SUNBillKaufmann
An artistic life reconstruction of a new horned dinosaur scientists named Regaliceratops peterhewsi in the paleoenvironment of the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada released on June 3, 2015. Scientists had a heck of a time getting the remarkable fossil of the dinosaur they dubbed "Hellboy" out of the hard limestone along a Canadian river bank where it was entombed for 68 million years, but the diabolic task proved gratifying. REUTERS/Julius T. Csotonyi/Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, Alberta/Handout via Reuters
'Hellboy' horned dinosaur unveiled in Alberta museum | Canada | News | Toronto S
