COLLEEN CHRISTIE: Researchers in Manitoba
have made an exciting discovery.
They have found what appears to be a complete
fossilized skeleton of a Mosasaur, the so-called
"T-rex of the deep."
Joining us is Adolfo Cietara, who
is the executive director of the Canadian Fossil Discovery
Center in Morden, Manitoba.
Thanks for joining us.
ADOLFO CIETARA: Thank you for having me.
COLLEEN CHRISTIE: Well, this must be a huge thrill.
How did you find these fossils?
ADOLFO CIETARA: Well, this is the result
of the last few years of improvements
that we made in the Center.
And it was found by Jerry Peters,
who is our field technician.
He was scratching, cleaning the surface in our property,
in the Manitoba Escarpment, with a new excavator
that we acquired last year.
He's very knowledgeable, and just he felt that,
as he was scratching the surface, that there was
something there, just the one bone or one fossil,
just showing up from the surface.
And he just stopped immediately, the tractor,
and started to dig with hand tools.
And just, he realized at that time,
that it was not just an isolated bone.
It was just showing up one vertebra, then
another vertebra, another vertebra.
And now, even, we are starting to find
teeth and skull elements.
So it's very exciting to be able to find this Mosasaur.
COLLEEN CHRISTIE: So do you think the skeleton is complete?
ADOLFO CIETARA: Yes.
In paleontology, we talk always--
complete skeleton when we find 70%, 75%, 80% of the skeleton.
It's almost impossible to find 100%.
There is always some element missing, right?
So right now, we are about half of the skeleton.
And we are pretty sure that this is going
to be very, very complete.
COLLEEN CHRISTIE: Now, most of us
are familiar with the fossil-rich Drumheller,
Alberta.
But you have your own very special window
back in time right there in Southern Manitoba.
Tell us about that.
This used to be a seabed.
ADOLFO CIETARA: Exactly.
so 83 million years ago, there were interior seaways,
like a channel of ocean, communicating
the Gulf of Mexico with the Arctic
Ocean and the Hudson Bay.
So at that time, Manitoba was completely under this interior,
warm, [? swallow ?] sea.
And in Drumheller, in Alberta, they were in the West
Coast of this interior seaway.
So that's why they find dinosaurs,
because they were land animals.
And we only find marine animals.
COLLEEN CHRISTIE: What else might you find
buried underneath the Earth?
ADOLFO CIETARA: Well, we have Bruce,
who is is the biggest Mosasaur skeleton
in display in the world.
And next year, this is by chance,
we will have acquired a piece of land
that is the continuation of where
Bruce was found in the 70s.
So we have high expectations about that portion of land
because all the animals, all the specimens
we found there are huge.
And so we have really big expectations about what we can
find this year and next year.
COLLEEN CHRISTIE: Adolfo Cietara,
executive director of the Canadian Fossil Discovery
Center in Morden, Manitoba.
Thank you.
ADOLFO CIETARA: Thank you.