“BIG BERT” THE CROCODILE RETURNS HOME TO THE PASQUIA HILLS

Released on August 5, 2011

With help from the Ministry of Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport and the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM), Pasquia Regional Park unveiled their newest exhibit, "Big Bert". Big Bert is a 92 million year old crocodile that once lived in the area and whose fossilized bones were discovered 20 years ago along the banks of the Carrot River.

"The reality that giant crocodiles once lived here, along the shoreline and shallows of a giant inland sea, is remarkable," Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Bill Hutchinson said. "The fact that a nearly complete skeleton was found 92 million years later and is now on display is tremendously exciting for the region and the province."

The scientific name for the crocodile is Terminonaris robusta. Big Bert is the world's most complete skeleton of this type of crocodile. Parts of the skeleton were first uncovered in 1991 along the banks of the Carrot River, in the Pasquia Hills of east-central Saskatchewan, by palaeontologist Tim Tokaryk of the RSM. A year later, the rest of the skeleton was collected by the RSM and the Canadian Museum of Nature. At the time, it was the only specimen of its genus to be discovered in Canada. This marine predator was 6.2 m (20 feet) long; its skull alone was more than 1 m long.

"Bringing Big Bert back here is a dream many of us have had for a long time," Pasquia Regional Park Board Chair Bud Charko said. "Now that it's a reality, we can focus on promoting the area as a unique tourism destination."

The exhibit consists of a museum-quality cast of the complete skeleton of the prehistoric reptile along with interpretive panels and graphics. The RSM worked with the park to install the mount and showcase this creature in their interpretive building.

Next year, an exhibit featuring a second mount of the crocodile's skeleton will become the RSM's third travelling exhibit. The other two exhibits feature a 72 million year old marine predator called a Tylosaur and the skull of "Scotty", Saskatchewan's very own T. rex.

In 1906, the Provincial Museum, as the RSM was called then, was formed to "secure and preserve natural history specimens and objects of historical and ethnological interest". Since these early beginnings, the RSM has endeavoured to increase interest in and knowledge about Saskatchewan's natural history through its research, programs and exhibits. For more information visit www.royalsaskmuseum.ca.

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For more information, contact:

Sean St. George
Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport
Regina
Phone: 306-787-9087
Email: sean.stgeorge@gov.sk.ca
Cell: 306-526-8635

Susan Schroepfer
Pasquia Regional Park Interpretive Centre
Phone: 306-768-3239
Email: pasquia1@xplornet.ca