They dig dinosaurs: Symposium brings together amateurs and professionals
The Alberta Palaeontological Society hosts its annual symposium on Saturday, after a two-year pandemic hiatus.
Mona Trick, an organizer of the free event, says Paleo 2023 will see scientists host sessions for professional and amateur palaeontologists.
"And that's one of the nice things about this symposium is we have a lot of experts there," Trick said.
"So people can come and bring their fossils if they want (to learn what species it is) and ask at the table and we know somebody who will be able to say (for example), 'Yes, this is a vertebrae from a ceratopsian.'"
The one-day symposium is at Mount Royal University and Trick says the event has been running in Calgary for 26 years.
The society has more than 100 members from seven to 90 years old who have a passion for hunting fossils.
"This thrill of discovery (is) to find something new and especially if the researchers are excited about it, it's like, 'Yes!'" she said.
Trick says visitors to the symposium learn about the rules they need to know if they come across a fossil in the province.
"We tell them that the Alberta regulations are such that you can pick up fossils that are lying on top of the ground," she said.
"You're not allowed to dig, but you can pick them up and you're the holder (or custodian) of the fossils, so you can't sell them, can't barter them or give them away."
Jared Voris, a University of Calgary PhD candidate who is an expert on tyrannosaurs, is a presenter at the symposium.
"I've done several publications on tyrannosaurs now and there are several, several more in the works to basically really revise the way that we understand the biology of these animals," he said.
"These include just describing how it is that they went from a young, juvenile animal to an adult all the way up to like, describing their anatomy in new species and even looking at how it is they evolved."
Voris says there are several different species of tyrannosaurs and a lot of them can be found in Alberta.
He says most people key on the massive T-Rex but there is the albertosaurus (named after the province), gorgosaurus, daspletosaurus – all sorts of different species – and he's studying their evolution.
"How they went from being these really small kind of underfoot predators back millions and millions of years before they got big," Voris said.
"Then, very quickly, ascended into a role that was an apex predator and that's something that I might be talking a little bit about (on Saturday).”
John Issa is also presenting at Paleo 2023 but comes from a different background.
He's the vice-president of business development with Korite International, specializing in mining ammolite.
"Ammolite is the gemstone that derives from the ammonite fossil. It's only found one place in the world in southern Alberta and it's actually our provincial gemstone," Issa said.
"They're from late Cretaceous, so they're about 75 to 71 million years old."
Korite staff are mining south of Lethbridge on the banks of the Saint Mary River in the Bearpaw Formation.
Ammonites are randomly deposited through the shale, where Issa says workers have to move football field of material to get a shoebox of ammolite, and they've made other discoveries while digging.
"Well, the thrill of discovery, there's nothing like it, there really isn't," he said.
"Every ammonite that we find is numbered and inspected by the province of Alberta. When we find a fossil, it actually belongs to the province … and we've found marine reptiles, we found mosasaurs, elasmosaurus, plesiosaurs, we found a few dinosaurs in our mine, we've found some fish, we find some clams – all kinds of stuff."
Paleo 2023 takes place Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Jenkins Theatre on the lower level of the main building at Mount Royal University and is free to the public.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Notorious serial killer Paul Bernardo moved to medium-security prison in Quebec
Notorious serial rapist and killer Paul Bernardo was moved to a medium-security prison in Quebec this week.

Special rapporteur David Johnston’s office hired crisis communications firm Navigator
Special rapporteur David Johnston has hired crisis communications firm Navigator, his office confirmed on Friday.
Here's what Nova Scotia's wildfires look like from outer space
Photos released by NASA taken from International Space Station show the immense scale of the wildfires in Nova Scotia, with billowing smoke engulfing the landscape.
Air Canada should face more consequences after two disruptions in a week, consumer advocate says
An airline consumer advocate says Air Canada should face tougher consequences for stranding passengers after two disruptions in a week.
Canada's 'unprecedented' fire season linked to climate change, will be the new normal: scientists
At the moment, wildfires are burning across six provinces and one territory in Canada — and they’re still spreading in what’s being called an unprecedented fire season. While firefighters work tirelessly to battle the merciless flames and prevent further destruction, scientists say the wildfires are linked to climate change and that this will be the new normal.
'Utterly disgusting': Canadian Army sergeant fined for 'anti-Jewish' comments
A 38-year-old sergeant in the Canadian Army was fined $3,000 and issued a severe reprimand after he made what a military judge described as 'utterly disgusting' anti-Jewish comments while conducting an infantry training course in 2021.
Experts warn of 'rapid' growth of IBD as number of Canadians diagnosed set to reach 470K by 2035
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
'Many, many lives turned upside down' by wildfires: N.S. premier
Nova Scotia’s premier says the “historic” wildfires in the province have caused a “breath-taking amount of damage.”
Trudeau raises Poland's democratic backsliding as prime minister visits Toronto
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he raised concerns about reports that LGBTQ2S+ rights and democracy are under threat in Poland during a Friday visit with its prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, in Toronto.