Peter Hews will give an illustrated presentation to the Sunshine Coast Natural History Society on Friday, Nov. 6 in Sechelt, providing details about a previously unknown dinosaur whose fossil head was found recently in the Alberta Foothills of the Rocky Mountains. This finding has been described as the existence of the most impressive new horned dinosaur since the discovery of the triceratops.
Hews will share many unpublished photos of the original discovery, the history involved to get it displayed, and reasons why the subject has made it into the history books.
Hews has been regularly searching for fossils in a section of the Oldman River banks in southwestern Alberta, where his youngest son had found dinosaur footprints some 20 years ago. He found many more footprints and trackways, as well as scattered broken bones, teeth and even eggshell remains.
After a relatively high spring runoff 10 years ago, Hews discovered an exposed front part of a dinosaur skull and horn in the clay and shale rock in a newly eroded riverbank section. Experts from the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alta., decided that the specimen was worth collecting for further study – primarily because it was located hundreds of kilometres west of where horned dinosaur remains are normally found.
Studies of the 1.5-metre long fossil skull during the past 10 years revealed that this was a new dinosaur species. Because of the difficulty in extracting the specimen from the hard rock, it was given the nickname “Hellboy.”
The official name given to this species is “Regaliceratop peterhewsi,” as described in the scientific journal Current Biology, published on June 4, the name being a tribute to Hews, who first discovered its skull.
Hews has been a geologist in the oil and gas industry for almost 40 years and is based in Calgary. He has always been interested in finding and collecting fossils.
Hews’ presentation at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre, at Trail and Medusa in Sechelt, starts at 7:30 p.m. New members are welcome.
