Dinosaur Provincial Park

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Lore & Background

Established on June 27, 1955 as part of Alberta's 50th Jubilee Year with the goal of protecting the fossil beds, the first warden was Roy Fowler (1902–1975), a farmer and amateur fossil hunter. The park was established as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on October 26, 1979 both for its nationally significant badlands and riverside riparian habitats, and for the international importance of the fossils found there. Until 1985, discoveries made in the park had to be shipped to museums throughout the world for scientific analysis and display, including the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto in Ontario, the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa in Ontario, the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, New York State, and the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. This changed with the opening of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology 100 kilometres upstream in Midland Provincial Park adjacent to Drumheller.

Reader's Guide

The Dinosaur Provincial Park Visitor Centre features exhibits about dinosaurs, fossils, and the geology and natural history of the park. There is a video theatre, fossil prep lab area, and a gift shop. Public programs are offered in the summer. John Ware's Cabin is a restored early 20th century cabin that was used by John Ware, an African-American cowboy and important figure in Alberta's ranching history. The cabin is located near the visitor centre and is open on select days in the summer. The park protects a very complex ecosystem including three communities: prairie grasslands, badlands, and riverside cottonwoods. Choruses of coyotes are common at dusk, as are the calls of nighthawks. Cottontail rabbits, mule deer, and pronghorn can all be seen in the park; the prairie rattlesnake, bull snake and the red-sided garter snake are present as well. Curlews and Canada geese are among the 165 bird species that can be seen in the spring and summer. Some of the most northern species of cactus, including Opuntia (prickly pear) and Pediocactus (pincushion) can be observed in full bloom during the later half of June. The sediments exposed in the badlands at Dinosaur Provincial Park were laid down over a period of about 1.5 million years during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous epoch, and belong to three different geologic formations. The Dinosaur Park Formation, which contains most of the articulated dinosaur skeletons, was laid down between about 76.5 and 74.8 million years ago. In respect of it being the 'world's most abundant and diverse dinosaur locality, yielding more than 166 vertebrate taxa, including 51 species of non-avian dinosaurs', the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) included the 'Dinosaur Provincial Park' in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022.

Did You Know?

• The park was established on June 27, 1955 as part of Alberta's 50th Jubilee Year.
• The first warden was Roy Fowler (1902–1975), a farmer and amateur fossil hunter.
• Until 1985, discoveries had to be shipped to museums worldwide, including the Royal Ontario Museum and the American Museum of Natural History.
• The park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site on October 26, 1979.
• In October 2022, the IUGS recognized it as the 'world's most abundant and diverse dinosaur locality, yielding more than 166 vertebrate taxa, including 51 species of non-avian dinosaurs.'

A Fossil Treasury Without Peer

Dinosaur Provincial Park stands as one of the richest dinosaur fossil locales on Earth, a distinction that has drawn paleontologists for generations. Fifty-eight distinct dinosaur species have been identified within its badlands, and more than five hundred specimens have been carefully extracted and placed on display in museums across the globe. The assemblage extends far beyond dinosaurs alone: nearly five hundred species of ancient life have been documented here, ranging from microscopic fern spores to the bones of large carnivorous theropods. The park's freshwater environments preserved an astonishing array of vertebrates, including sharks, rays, paddlefish, bowfins, gars, and teleost fish, alongside frogs, salamanders, monitor lizards, turtles, crocodilians, and the fish-eating Champsosaurus. Even the small mammals that scurried beneath the feet of giants left traces—fragmentary jaws and isolated teeth from mouse-sized and shrew-sized animals representing placental, marsupial, and multituberculate lineages. Plant fossils complete the picture, preserving fern fronds, conifer wood, and leaves of Ginkgo and other species, while a rich pollen and spore assemblage has been described. The International Union of Geological Sciences recognized the site in 2022 as the world's most abundant and diverse dinosaur locality, yielding over 166 vertebrate taxa.

A Window into the Late Cretaceous

The badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park expose a remarkable geological record. Sediments accumulated here over roughly 1.5 million years during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, preserving three distinct formations stacked one atop another. At the base lies the terrestrial Oldman Formation, the oldest layer in the sequence. Above it rests a complete section of the Dinosaur Park Formation, the unit that has yielded most of the park's celebrated articulated dinosaur skeletons. Capping the sequence is the base of the marine Bearpaw Formation, a reminder that the Western Interior Seaway once reached this far inland. The Dinosaur Park Formation was deposited between approximately 76.5 and 74.8 million years ago in floodplain and coastal plain settings, shaped by river systems that carried sediment eastward and southeastward toward that vast inland sea. This layered architecture means a single outcrop can reveal an entire ecological succession—terrestrial floodplains giving way to coastal marshes and eventually open marine conditions—compressed into a vertical column of rock that paleontologists and geologists have studied for decades.

From Jubilee Protection to World Heritage

The park's story began on June 27, 1955, when Alberta marked its 50th Jubilee Year by formally establishing the reserve to shield the fossil beds from erosion and collection. Roy Fowler, a farmer and amateur fossil hunter (1902–1975), was appointed first warden, a fitting choice given his personal connection to the ground he would protect. For nearly two decades the site operated as a provincial treasure, but on October 26, 1979, UNESCO elevated it to World Heritage status, citing both the nationally significant badlands and riverside riparian habitats and the international importance of the fossils within them. Until 1985, major discoveries had to be shipped to institutions far from the valley—the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the Field Museum in Chicago—for analysis and display. That era ended when the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology opened roughly 100 kilometres upstream in Midland Provincial Park near Drumheller, bringing world-class palaeontological infrastructure closer to the source. In October 2022, the International Union of Geological Sciences further cemented the park's standing by including it among its 100 global geological heritage sites.

A Living Badlands Ecosystem

Though the park is famous for its deep past, the present-day landscape is equally rich. Dinosaur Provincial Park protects a complex mosaic of three distinct communities—prairie grasslands, eroded badlands, and riverside cottonwood groves—nestled within the Red Deer River valley, 220 kilometres east of Calgary and 48 kilometres northeast of Brooks. The ecosystem is surrounded by open prairie yet remains unique unto itself. At dusk, choruses of coyotes echo across the badlands while nighthawks call overhead. Cottontail rabbits, mule deer, and pronghorn graze the grasslands, and three snake species—the prairie rattlesnake, bull snake, and red-sided garter snake—thread through the terrain. In spring and summer, 165 bird species, including curlews and Canada geese, add layers of sound and motion. Most striking are the cacti: some of the most northerly populations of Opuntia (prickly pear) and Pediocactus (pincushion) bloom during the later half of June. The Visitor Centre, with its fossil exhibits, video theatre, prep lab, and summer public programs, anchors the visitor experience, while nearby John Ware's Cabin—a restored early-20th-century homestead of the African-American cowboy and Alberta ranching legend—opens on select summer days, linking the park to a human history as layered as its geology.