Seven-year-old Austin Werbiski holding his dinosaur tooth (Photo courtesy Bridget Werbiski)

By Teagan Rasche

76-MILLION-YEAR-OLD DISCOVERY

Southern Alberta boy, 7, finds dinosaur tooth

Apr 21, 2021 | 4:59 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A normal weekend hike for the Werbiski family turned into a 76-million-year-old discovery when seven-year-old Austin found a dinosaur tooth just outside of Redcliff, Alberta.

“Well we just went for a hike,” Austin said. “We were by coal and I found this on the top of the coal.”

At first, Austin’s mom Bridget thought it was a fish tooth.

Excited by the find, the family reached out to the University of Alberta Palaeontological Society for answers.

“We called the paleontologist and he said it’s an Ankylosaurus tooth,” Austin said.

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Khoi Nguyen with the Palaeontological Society confirmed the find. He knew right away based on the very specific appearance.

“I know the approximate age, geological age of the area is southeastern Alberta and I also know it’s a herbivorous dinosaur,” Nguyen said.

He says the chances of finding fossils in our area are pretty high. But teeth are hard to spot because of the small size.

“The bentonite clay in the Badlands area are very subject to wind and other erosional forces,” Nguyen said. “Every year more fossils are found because of the erosion.”

Alberta has some of the world’s strictest fossil protection laws. Lucky for Austin, he gets to keep the tooth because it was found on the surface of unprotected Crown land.

“It was really cool,” Austin said.

Hikes will be a little more exciting as Austin will be keeping his eyes peeled for more dinosaur remains.

(CHAT News Today)