The park protects a very complex ecosystem including three communities: prairie grasslands, badlands, and riverside
cottonwoods. Its ecosystem is surrounded by
prairies but is unique unto itself. Choruses of
coyotes are common at dusk, as are the calls of
nighthawks.
Cottontail rabbits,
mule deer, and
pronghorn can all be seen in the park; the
prairie rattlesnake,
bull snake and the
red-sided garter snake are present as well.
Curlews and
Canada geese are among the 165 bird species that can be seen in the spring and summer. Some of the most northern species of cactus, including
Opuntia (prickly pear) and
Pediocactus (pincushion) can be observed in full bloom during the later half of June.
Geology The
sediments exposed in the
badlands at Dinosaur Provincial Park were laid down over a period of about 1.5 million years during the
Campanian stage of the
Late Cretaceous epoch, and belong to three different geologic
formations. The top of the terrestrial
Oldman Formation, which
outcrops at the base of the sequence, is the oldest. It is overlain by a complete section of the terrestrial
Dinosaur Park Formation, which is in turn overlain by the base of the marine
Bearpaw Formation. The Dinosaur Park Formation, which contains most of the articulated dinosaur skeletons, was laid down between about 76.5 and 74.8 million years ago. It was deposited in
floodplain and
coastal plain environments by river systems that flowed eastward and southeastward to the
Western Interior Seaway.
Paleontology '', which was found in the Park, on display at the
Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology Dinosaur Provincial Park preserves an extraordinarily diverse group of freshwater vertebrates. Fish include
sharks,
rays (such as the
durophage Myledaphus),
paddlefish,
bowfins,
gars, and
teleosts. Amphibians include
frogs,
salamanders, and the extinct
albanerpetontids. Reptiles include lizards (such as the large monitor
Palaeosaniwa), a wide range of turtles, crocodilians, and the fish-eating
Champsosaurus. Mammal fossils from the park are relatively rare and consist of isolated teeth, fragmentary jaws with teeth, and tooth fragments from mouse-sized and shrew-sized animals. They include representatives of
placental,
marsupial, and
multituberculate mammals. A rich assemblage of fossil
pollen and
spores has also been described. The dinosaurs of the park are astonishingly diverse. They include:
Ceratopsia •
Leptoceratops sp. •
Centrosaurus apertus •
Coronosaurus brinkmani •
Styracosaurus albertensis •
Pachyrhinosaurus •
Chasmosaurus belli,
Chasmosaurus russelli •
Vagaceratops irvinensis Hadrosauridae •
Corythosaurus casuarius •
Gryposaurus notabilis,
Gryposaurus incurvimanus •
Lambeosaurus lambei,
Lambeosaurus magnicristatus •
Prosaurolophus maximus •
Parasaurolophus walkeri Ankylosauria •
Panoplosaurus •
Edmontonia •
Euoplocephalus tutus Hypsilophodontidae •
Orodromeus Pachycephalosauria •
Stegoceras Tyrannosauridae •
Daspletosaurus torosus •
Gorgosaurus libratus Ornithomimidae •
Ornithomimus •
Struthiomimus •
Rativates • new ornithomimid species A
Caenagnathidae •
Chirostenotes pergracilis •
Chirostenotes collinsi •
Citipes elegans Paraves •
Dromaeosaurus albertensis •
Saurornitholestes •
Hesperonychus elizabethae • ?new dromaeosaur species A • ?new dromaeosaur species B •
Troodon • new troodontid species A
Classification Uncertain •
Richardoestesia gilmorei Birds such as
Hesperornithiformes were present, as well as a giant
pterosaur related to
Quetzalcoatlus.
Stagodont marsupials,
placentals and
multituberculate mammals scurried underfoot.
IUGS geological heritage site In respect of it being the 'world's most abundant and diverse dinosaur locality, yielding more than 166 vertebrate taxa, including 51 species of non-avian dinosaurs', the
International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) included the 'Dinosaur Provincial Park' in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022. The organisation defines an IUGS Geological Heritage Site as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.' ==Gallery==