Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum

Get ready… AAA is back and bigger than ever! 😱 Welcome to Ancient Animal Absurdity: newly renamed and ready to rumble. Now drawing from the entire animal fossil record, this year the oceans will take over. It's MARINE MADNESS! 🌊 Coming this April... dinomuseum.ca/ancient-animal…

Pictured: Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai fibula. Modified Diagram: Scott Hartman @skeletaldrawing.

🦴 #FossilFriday This Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai fibula shows a fascinating story of taphonomy- the changes that happen to an organism after death. Buried for 72 million years, the bone developed a wave and bend. When this dinosaur was alive, this bone would have been straighter!

Pictured: Champsosaur fibula. Modified Diagram: Brennon Valdez.

#FossilFriday! This bone is one of the most exciting we have found at Pipestone Creek. This fibula is a shin bone from an animal called a #champsosaur. These reptiles closely resembled crocodiles and had a similar lifestyle, but they were better adapted to colder environments.

Pictured: partial maxilla (upper jaw) of a hadrosaur. Modified Diagram: Scott Hartman. @skeletaldrawing.

#FossilFriday! This partial upper jaw of a #hadrosaur shows an incredible feature of these dinosaurs. The inner surface of the bone has eroded, exposing the roots of the tooth row. Up to 90% of the tooth was root, demonstrating that these teeth were firmly set in the jaw!

Pictured: Ornithomimid caudal (tail) vertebra. Modified Diagram: Scott Hartman. @skeletaldrawing

#FossilFriday! #Ornithomimid caudal (tail) #vertebra, like this one, have long neural spines that interlock to stiffen up the tail of the dinosaur. These rod-like tails give Ornithomimids an excellent sense of balance, as well as increased agility and speed.

Pictured: juvenile and adult Pachyrhinosaurus coracoids. Modified Diagram: Scott Hartman. @skeletaldrawing

#FossilFriday! These two Pachyrhinosaurus coracoids are from the Pipestone Creek Bonebed. The coracoid forms part of the shoulder socket. These fossils span the size spectrum: the smallest we’ve found and one of the largest, an adult the size of a bison!

#FossilFriday! This leaf fell from a tree growing in one of the first forests in Alberta that arose following the K-Pg bolide event. The animals living in these central Albertan forests would have, for the first time in millions of years, experienced sub 0 winter temperatures.

#FossilFriday! This Elrathia trilobite dates back to the Cambrian Period, over 500 million years ago. Though only distantly related, trilobites closely resemble modern horseshoe crabs. Trilobites went extinct at the end of the Permian Period, about 252 million years ago.

#FossilFriday Dinosaur teeth, like this hadrosaur one, are common fossils because dinosaurs shed worn-out teeth during their lives. Occasionally, we find teeth with the root still attached, like this one, which typically means the tooth fell out of the jaw after the animal died.

We have big news! 😀 On behalf of the Currie Museum, we are very proud to announce that we have been named a Recognized Museum Leader by @AlbertaMuseums for the 2026–2034 period. Here’s to many more years of science, education, and discovery 🦖👏 thearticle.ca/2026/01/18/pjc…

#FossilFriday! Closely related to one of the most famous dinosaurs ever, T. rex, our local large carnivore Albertosaurus was smaller, but no less intimidating. More lightly built and proportionately leaner, this animal was an agile, quick predator with teeth up to 10 cm long!

#FossilFriday! These gar scales from southern Alberta are part of our education collection. Gar scales are common fossils in many late cretaceous microfossil sites, but so far have been rare in northern Alberta. This means every fish fossil from the Peace Region is a great find!

#FossilFriday! With today’s snowy start to the new year, we’re highlighting our Ice Age fossil record. This baby mammoth tooth is softball-sized, but an adult’s could be as big as a volleyball! Mammoths had only four chewing teeth, but when they’re this big, they don't need more.

#FossilFriday! 2025 was an exceptional year of discovery. Our museum collected 1000+ fossils from the Peace Region, including dinosaurs, marine reptiles, and plants. Here are just a few of the dozens of dinosaur teeth we collected: three Albertosaurus teeth from small to large!

#FossilFriday! With the holidays right around the corner, this week we are highlighting a beautiful #metasequoia leaf block. This tree species is very closely related to modern redwoods and giant sequoia. Metasequoia are among the most common plant fossils we find in the region.