Remains of dinosaur skull found in B.C. campground belonged to T. rex ‘great-uncle’
A B.C. resident discovered a rare tyrannosaur skull impression in a Tumbler Ridge campground, which paleontologists identified as a Gorgosaurus libratus. The find provides significant insight into the species, which lived 76 million years ago and is considered a 'great-uncle' to the T. rex.
Why it matters
This discovery marks the first tyrannosaur skull ever found in British Columbia, offering new data on the distribution and evolution of prehistoric predators in North America.
The Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta says the species could reach nine metres in length.
The journey toward the dinosaur’s identification started in 2017, when B.C. resident Rick Lambert found a strange-looking rock at a campground in Tumbler Ridge, near the Alberta boundary, during a hike.
Lambert said a childhood spent hunting for fossils in England gave him a keen eye — though it also helped that a squirrel directed his attention to the rock near the river’s edge.
The Tumbler Ridge Museum Foundation sent one of its paleontologists to take a look at the find, and it turned out that Lambert had uncovered the first tyrannosaur skull ever found in B.C.
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