Museum Hours
10:00 am - 5:00 pm
year round
Current Research
ANALYSIS OF PLESIOSAUR STOMACH CONTENTS
In 2004 the CFDC excavated the fossil remains of a polycotylid plesiosaur nicknamed “Betsy” (Specimen P.04.01.15) in a pasture near the town of Miami, Manitoba. The remains of gastric ejecta, or “vomitus,” were interbedded with the stomach contents associated with the plesiosaur.
Consisting mostly of various tiny fossil fish remains, these stomach contents are currently being studied by our Curator Anita-Maria Janzic as part of her graduate studies on the marine paleoecology of the Western Interior Seaway at the University of Winnipeg. Anita presented some of her preliminary results at the 66th annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Ottawa, Ontario in 2006 and again with additional data at the first Manitoba Paleontology Seminar held in Morden, Manitoba in 2007.
PATHOLOGY OF TUSOTEUTHIS LONGA
CFDC specimen Q.80.05.14, the Cretaceous squid Tusoteuthis longa, was recently observed to display a unique pathology in the rhacis which fits perfectly with the tooth grooves of an average mosasaur tooth. It appears that the specimen was preyed upon by a mosasaur. While mosasaur specimens M.77.05.07 (“Suzy”) and M.08.02.23 (“Angus”) were discovered in direct association with Teuthid gladius, specimen Q.80.05.14 clearly displays an absolute pathology from a mosasaur bite. This is direct evidence of the feeding habits of mosasaurs, which aids in the compilation of re-creating the food chain for an extinct ecosystem.
STRATIGRAPHIC CORRELATION OF BENTONITE STRINGERS IN THE PEMBINA MEMBER OF THE PIERRE SHALE FORMATION
This research involves field geological analysis of multiple bentonite samples from some of our primary field locations. Bentonite stringers are being recorded in their precise stratigraphic horizon and geochemical palynoloy laboratory analysis of the samples over a wide geographic area will provide for unit correlation using ArcGIS software. The data sets into Manitoba geology will further assist CFDC scientists with being able to more precisely pinpoint the various geological strata and fossil horizons within the Pembina Member of the Pierre Shale Formation, and the fossils which come from these units as well.
THE DAUPHIN PROJECT
The Manitoba Escarpment is a physiographic feature that rises above the Red River Valley, extending north-westerly across south-western Manitoba from the Pembina Mountain region along the North Dakota border to the Pasquia Hills in eastern Saskatchewan. To date, the entirety of the CFDC fossil collection has been collected from the Pembina Mountain region of the escarpment providing for a unique window into one small portion of Manitoba's exciting prehistory.
With word reaching CFDC scientists that marine reptile fossils have been discovered in the Pierre Shale Formation near Dauphin, Manitoba we are launching a new preliminary field investigation into the geology and topography of the Riding Mountain area, with emphasis on the Pierre Shale Formation near the town of Dauphin. We hope that by provincially extending our field research along the vast Manitoba Escarpment that we might acquire new data sets which will add to our greater understanding of the marine paleoecology that existed 80 million years ago.