Champsosaur fossil returning to Olds

After a nine-month absence, the fossil of a prehistoric reptile will return to the area where it rested for roughly 60 million years.

Last October, a groundskeeper discovered the fossilized bones of a champsosaur in a pile of excavated rocks on the Olds College campus.

The bones were brought to the Royal Tyrrell Museum where technicians removed rock around the fossil to reveal the reptile’s head from the tip of its skull to the snout, its shoulder girdle and its front limbs.

Champsosaurs measured about two metres in length and lived in the rivers of North America and Western Europe between 70 million and 50 million years ago.

Restoration work on the fossil is now complete and Andy Neuman, the museum’s executive director, confirmed the champsosaur will be displayed in Olds on June 22 as part of celebrations for the Oldstice and the college’s centennial.

Museum technicians will bring the fossil to Olds in a special wooden case with a Plexiglas top and will answer questions from the public about the reptile and the process to clean and restore the fossil.

Neuman said the fossilized bones that were found at the college are in "superb shape" and, if they have time, technicians may capitalize on their visit to Olds by looking around the school’s campus to see if they can recover any other parts of the reptile.

"Unfortunately, the rest of the specimen would have been there at some time and we’re still hoping maybe we’ll come across it at some stage," he said. "It would have been a spectacular piece."

The museum also created a cast of the fossilized bones, which the college will get to keep after the original fossil is returned to the museum.

Neuman said research on the specimen is just beginning and "hopefully a publication will come out (on the find) in the next couple of years."

Kerry Moynihan, the college’s general manager of its centennial celebrations, said the fossil will be on display in or near the Centennial Park gazebo from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the college is still working on details about the display.

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