In 1988, Guy Plint, an earth scientist, was studying sedimentary formations in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., and discovered dinosaur tracks belonging to duck-billed dinosaurs that lived around 86 million years ago. Over the years, this region in northeast B.C. has become a UNESCO Global Geopark renowned for its rich collection of ancient fossils. Plint, along with a local paleontologist, has delved into the history of these tracks, which are among the northernmost in North America for their age group, with similar tracks found only in southern Montana.
Recently, Plint and Dr. Charles Helm, a local physician and paleontologist, co-authored a research paper unveiling their findings on the tracks. These fossilized footprints from the Coniacian age, dating back approximately 85 to 89 million years during the Late Cretaceous period, mark a transition in dinosaur species following the emergence of flowering plants as a primary food source. Ankylosaurs, the spiky, armored dinosaurs, were predominant herbivores before the Coniacian era when duck-billed dinosaurs became the prevalent plant-eating species.
The Tumbler Ridge area was once a prehistoric delta, characterized by marshy terrain near an inland sea, as Plint mapped during his 1988 visit. These dinosaur tracks, unique for their Coniacian age, are the sole known examples in Canada, found in sediments preserved within the delta. Plint’s recent research detailed the exploration of five sites between 2022 and 2025, resulting in the recovery and curation of five individual tracks now housed at the Tumbler Ridge Museum. These tracks offer insights into a flourishing community of dinosaurs that once thrived in the region.
Eamon Drysdale, the museum’s resident paleontologist and curator, emphasized the importance of preserving the tracks to prevent damage. He highlighted the significance of these findings in understanding the evolutionary turnover of dinosaur species during the Cretaceous period. Drysdale noted the scarcity of body fossil records for the transitional period between different dinosaur species, making these tracks invaluable for comprehending the evolutionary dynamics of dinosaurs at that time.
