Composite Hadrosaur Tail - Alberta (Disposition #000028-29)

Composite Hadrosaur Tail - Alberta (Disposition #-) #129798

First, a note on the legality of this fossil. Alberta has very strict laws pertaining to fossil collection. Fossils may not be removed from the province of Alberta without permission from the government. To gain ownership of a fossil, you must be issued a Disposition Certificate from Alberta's Royal Tyrrell Museum. Only a few fossil types are currently eligible for disposition: mostly ammonites, petrified wood, leaves and fossil oysters.

This specimen is part of a collection of dinosaur material that was collected by a single individual (Steve Walchina) decades ago prior to the current law. Because it was collected before the law went into effect, the collection was "grandfathered" in. The collection was reviewed by the Royal Tyrrell Museum and a disposition certificate issued for portions of it that were not considered scientifically significant. This moved the fossils into private ownership and allowed them to be removed from the province. The disposition certificate (#000028-29) is on file with the Royal Tyrrell Museum. This makes the small amount of Alberta dinosaur fossils we recently acquired from this collection some of the only legal Alberta dinosaur material on the market.

This is a string of 13 Hadrosaur caudal (tail) vertebrae from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta. The bones are articulated, however the tail is a composite, consisting of vertebrae from separate Hadrosaurs. The majority of the processes have been restored, however the largest vertebra still has its original process. The largest vertebra measures 1.45 x 1.3 x 1.25" while the smallest is .9 x .7 x .65". When placed together with no gaps between the vertebrae, the string is just under 14" long.

There are multiple species of Hadrosaur that come out of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation. The Hadrosaurs that have been identified are Edmontosaurus, Hypacrosaurus, Parksosaurusa and Saurolophus. Due to the similarities of these dinosaurs, as well as the unrecorded specifics from the original collector, I cannot provide an accurate genus/species identification.

More about Hadrosaurs