Alberta couple discovers dinosaur bone on new property

CTV National News: Alta. couple discover fossil An Alberta couple discovered a dinosaur fossil at their newly-purchased property. Bill Fortier reports.

An Alberta couple discovered a large dinosaur bone while hiking on their new property near Edmonton.

The Sedlaks bought the 150-acre piece of land in Leduc County last winter. This spring, they started exploring its forests and steep ravines. On one of their hikes, they came across a small creek, and under an eroding cliff made the discovery of a lifetime.

"When we came up to this area, my friend Casey, was like, 'Pretty sure we found a dinosaur bone,'" Brenda Sedlak told CTV News from the scene. "You can tell it came from something huge."

They sent photos to experts at Alberta's Royal Tyrrell Museum. Days later, a paleontologist got back to them and confirmed they'd found a fossilized dinosaur bone.

"They said that they’d like to come out and take a look at it," Sedlak said.

Alberta is one of the richest sources of dinosaur fossils in the world, with sites like Dinosaur Provincial Park and Royal Tyrrell Museum attracting a steady stream of visitors. The Sedlaks hope paleontologists will visit to confirm what kind of dinosaur their find came from, and figure out what to do with it.

"Looking at the picture, it looks kind of like a limb bone that’s sort of starting to weather out of the rock," University of Alberta paleontologist Mark Powers told CTV News.

Powers believe the bone could even be from one of the largest predators to ever walk the earth.

"Given the size, and the hollow sort of core that seemed to be present there, it definitely seemed more likely it would be a tyrannosaur or something like that," Powers said.

Whatever the cretaceous curiosity turns out to be, the Sedlaks want to ensure it finds its way from the creek bed on their property to a museum.

"It's technically a part of history," Brenda Sedlak said. "If we can contribute to that then we’re happy to do that."