THE DINOSAURS OF ALBERTA
Palaeontologists have been collecting dinosaurs in Alberta (Canada) since 1874, and the area has become one of the best anywhere for Cretaceous dinosaurs. Approximately 700 skeletons have been collected along the Red Deer River, and have found their way into more than 35 museums and universities in North America, Europe and South America. The region is also rich in dinosaur bonebeds, dinosaur eggs, and footprint localities. Ten percent of the documented bonebeds are dominated by single species of dinosaurs. They represent mass death sites where herds or packs of ceratopsians, hadrosaurs and tyrannosaurids encountered catastrophes. The eggs, which sometimes include embryos, are often preserved in nests. The Red Deer River has a succession of dinosaurian faunas that document changes over the last fifteen million years of Cretaceous history in the region. At least locally, it appears that dinosaur diversity was diminishing progressively over that period. Although there is ample evidence of an extraterrestrial bolide colliding with the Earth 65 million years ago, it was probably not the sole cause of non-avian dinosaur extinction.
Philip J. Currie
University of Alberta, Department of Biological Sciences, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada
国际会议
2005·河源国际恐龙学术研讨会(2005 Heyuan International Dinosaur Symposium)
广东河源
英文
61-86
2005-04-08（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）