Canadian paleontologists have discovered a dinosaur vertebra in 75- to 80-million-year-old marine rock on an island off British Columbia, providing strong evidence that bird-like ornithomimosaurs inhabited North America’s ancient Pacific coast. Ornithomimosaurs, known for their fast-running abilities, resembled modern ostriches with long legs, necks, and toothless beaks. Some species could reach over 4 meters in length and are believed to have been omnivorous.
The fossil, described by Dr. David Evans and colleagues, dates back to the Campanian period of the Late Cretaceous and was collected from the Cedar District Formation. This is the second dinosaur skeletal material found in the Nanaimo Group and the first from a Canadian outcrop. Researchers believe the bones may have ended up in the ocean through various means, including ocean currents or scavengers.
The paper discusses possible links between the dinosaur diversity on the Pacific coast and regional geographical factors, suggesting the need for further fossil findings to resolve these questions. The findings were published in the journal FACETS on April 17th.
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