Science editor
Senior science journalist
Alberta, hidden under the slopes of a green -rich forest in Canada, is a collective grave on a monumental scale.
Thousands of dinosaurs were buried here, killed in a day in a day.
Now, a group of palliantologists have come to Pipstone Creek-The “Death River of Death has been named-a 72 million year-year-year-old-year-old puzzle to help solve the puzzle: How did they die?
Trying to work here begins with a huge strike of a Sledaimmer.
The Brout Force requires opening a thick layer of rock, which incorporates Professor Emily Bamfaha, which is leading excavation, describing as “Paleo Gold”.
As soon as his team begins to work more delicate to remove the layers of dirt and dust, a thunder of fossil bones gradually starts to emerge.
Prof. Bamfaha says, “That big drop of bone is there, we think, part of a hip,” seen by his dog’s ester – whose job is today if he spots any nearby bear.
“Then here, we have all these long, thin bones. These are all ribs. And it is a clean – it is part of a toe.
BBC News has come to Pipstone Creek to see the sheer scale of this prehistoric cemetery and see how researchers are getting clues simultaneously.
Thousands of fossils have been collected from the site, and are constantly generated New search,
The bones all belong to a dinosaur, called Pachirinosaurus. The species, and the excavation of Professor Bamforth, includes a new landmark BBC series – walking with dinosaurs – which uses visual effects and science to bring this prehistoric world into life.
These animals, which lived during late Creteseous period, were relatives of trisratops. About five meters long and two tons, Four -legged animals had big headsA specific bony adorned with frill and three horn. His defined feature was a major collision on the nose called the boss.
The excavation season has just started and remains every year till autumn. The fossils that are working in the small patches of the ground are incredibly packed; Professor Bamforth estimates that every square meter has 300 bones.
So far, his team has excavated a tennis court size to an area, but the bone bed spreads in the hill for a kilometer.
“It is leaving the jaw in terms of its density,” she tells us.
“This is, we believe, one of the largest bone beds in North America.
“More than half of the dinosaur species known in the world are described from the same sample. We have thousands of Pachirhinosaurus.”
The peliyontologist believes that dinosaurs were migrating together in a huge herd for hundreds of miles from the south – where they spent the north for summer in winter.
The area that had a much hot climate compared to today would have been covered in a rich vegetation, providing abundant food for this huge group of plant eating animals.
“It is a single community of the same species of the animal from a snapshot in time, and it is a huge sample size. It is almost never in fossil records,” says pro Bamforth.
Big animals offer clues
And this patch of North-Western Alberta was not just the home of Pachirinosaurus. Even large dinosaurs roamed this land, and their study is essential to try and understand this ancient ecosystem.
At a distance of two hours, we reach the deadfall hills. Reaching there involves an increase in dense forests, wading – or esters through doggie -peadling – across the fast running river, and climbing slippery rocks.
No excavation is required here; The super-shaped bones lie next to the coastline, wash with a rock and cleansed with flowing water, just waiting to get up.
A huge vertebrae is quickly seen, such as there are pieces of scattered ribs and teeth across the mud.
The peliytologist Jackson Sweder specifically looks a part of the dinosaur skull. He says, “Everything we find here is a duck -out dinosaur called Edmontosorus. If it is a skull bone, it is a dinosaur that is big – probably 30 feet (10 meters) long,” they say.
Edmontosaurus, another vegetarian, revolves in forests such as Pachirinosaurus – and is helping the paliytologist to make a picture of this ancient land.
The Philip J Curry Dinosaur Museum in the Grande Preyi near Sweder Pass is the collection manager, where the bones of these two giants are cleaned and analyzed. He is currently working on a huge Pachirhinosaurus skull that is about 1.5 meters long and has been named “Big Sam”.
He indicates where the three horns should be at the top of the frill, but one is missing in the middle. “All skulls that are fulfilled by decency have a spike at that place,” they say. “But its nice small unicorn spike does not seem there.”
In the years working on the extraordinary site, the museum team has collected bones of 8,000 dinosaurs, and the surfaces of the lab have been covered in fossils; There are bones ranging from Pachirhinosaurus to young to old.
Having materials from so many animals allow researchers to learn about dinosaur biology, answering questions about how species grow and community makeup. They can also see individual variations, to see how a Pachirinosaurus can stand out of the herd – as is the case with Big Sam and his missing spikes.
A sudden disastrous event
All of this detailed research, in the museum and on two sites, is helping the team to answer the important question: How did so many animals die at the same time in Pipstone Creek?
“We believe it was a herd on a seasonal migration that got entangled in some frightening event, which was effectively wiped out, if not a whole herd, a good ratio,” pro Bomforthy.
All evidence suggests that this horrific event was a flash flood – perhaps an storm on the mountains that sent an invincible edge of water to the herd, ripped the trees from their roots and moved the boulder.
Prof. Bamforth says that Pachirinosaurus will not be a chance. “These animals are not able to move very fast due to their sheer numbers, and they are very top heavy – and are not really very good in swimming.”
The rocks found on the site are shown churning everything from the fast flowing water. It is as if destruction is frozen in the form of a wave in the stone in time.
But this nightmare for dinosaurs is now a dream for peliytologist.
“We know, every time we come here, it is a 100% guarantee that we will find bones. And every year we find something new about the species,” Prof. Bamforth says.
“So we keep coming back, because we are still getting new things.”
As the team packs its equipment ready to return another day, they know that there is a lot of work ahead. They have scratched the surface of only what is here – and there are many more prehistorical secrets that are just waiting for appearance.
The new series of Walking with Dinosaurs starts at BBC One at 18:25 BST on Sunday 25 May, with all episodes available on BBC iPlayer.