Tumbler Ridge, B.C. – There  has been another discovery that  should add weight to the  call to create the Tumbler Ridge Global Geopark.

Analysis of a rock retrieved by helicopter from a canyon near Tumbler Ridge last month, has yielded an unexpected discovery by palaeontologists at the Peace Region Palaeontology Research Centre (PRPRC):  four footprints probably made by birds.

The rock was first  recognized for  two  medium sized  theropod dinosaur tracks, but on closer examination,  the experts  spotted the  bird  tracks.

The prints were discovered in rock layers laid down about 140 million years ago near the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary. The experts say these footprints are the oldest in the Peace Region and amongst the oldest bird tracks in the world.

In addition to these bird tracks, a number of other important finds were made.

A single left sauropod footprint natural cast has extended the known North American range of these largest of all dinosaurs north by hundreds of kilometres. Another site with huge depressions on a near-vertical canyon wall possibly represents trampling of a sandy surface by sauropods.

When  a huge vertical rock wall in another  canyon was examined in good sunlight conditions, multiple dinosaur trackways covering an area of almost 1000 square metres were apparent. These have already been examined on rope by PRPRC palaeontologists and filmed by a national film crew, to be aired on the History Channel in 2014.

These new discoveries, all from within the proposed Geopark boundary, will be exhibited in the near future in the Dinosaur Discovery Gallery in Tumbler Ridge.