Government of Yukon
News archives
FOR RELEASE #05-005
January 11, 2005
Scientific Paper Published On Dinosaur Tracks
WHITEHORSE - Following the discovery of dinosaur tracks near Ross River in 1999, John Storer, Yukon Palaeontologist, and Roland Gangloff and Kevin May from the University of Alaska Museum, have published a scientific paper in Ichnos, an international journal for the study of plant and animal trace fossils.
"This paper attracts attention and points to the importance of the fossil record in the Yukon," Tourism and Culture Minister Elaine Taylor said.
The find was first reported in 1999. The Yukon government has been working with the Ross River Dena Council to ensure the places where the tracks have been discovered along an old access road and at an inactive mine site are properly preserved and protected.
Some loose blocks of stone also containing the preserved tracks recovered from the old mine have been added to the Yukon fossil collection, in storage, here in Whitehorse.
Many of the better specimens are out of storage at the moment because they are on display in Ross River at the school and at the interpretive centre during the summer months.
Identified tracks total 251; 198 at the road site and another 53 from the old mine site. The types of dinosaur footprints identified are bird-mimics, medium-sized to large carnivorous dinosaurs, bipedal plant-eaters (possibly duck-bills or iguanodonts) and armoured dinosaurs. There were six types of tracks discovered which led to the initial research and the follow up scientific paper.
The paper contains narrative, site maps, stratigraphic sections and photographs related to the trace fossil find. This is the first extensive evidence of dinosaurs (Mesozoic vertebrates) in Yukon. The only previously known dinosaur materials found were fragmentary duck-bill bones unearthed in the Bonnet Plume Basin along the Peel River, many years ago.
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| Contact: | ||
| Peter Carr | Karen Tremblay | John Storer |
| Cabinet Communication Advisor | A/Communication Officer | Yukon Palaeontology |
| (867) 667-8688 | (867) 667-8304 | (867) 667-8089 |
| peter.carr@gov.yk.ca | karen.tremblay@gov.yk.ca | john.storer@gov.yk.ca |