Dinosaur Provincial Park, Provincial park and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Alberta, Canada
Dinosaur Provincial Park is a protected area with badlands and deep canyons carved along the Red Deer River in southeastern Alberta. The landscape displays red and tan-colored rock formations shaped by wind and water over millions of years.
Dinosaur Provincial Park was established on June 27, 1955, during Alberta's 50th jubilee year, to protect the fossil beds; its first warden was Roy Fowler, a farmer and amateur fossil hunter. UNESCO inscribed it on October 26, 1979, citing the badlands, riverside cottonwood habitat and fossil wealth. Until 1985 finds were shipped to museums such as the Royal Ontario Museum and the American Museum of Natural History; the Royal Tyrrell Museum then opened 100 km upstream.
The park's name comes from its fossils, and its visitor centre displays dinosaur finds alongside a fossil preparation lab. Nearby stands John Ware's Cabin, a restored early 20th-century home of an African-American cowboy important in Alberta's ranching history, open on select summer days.
The badlands are reached by road from Brooks, 48 km southwest, or from Calgary, about 220 km west. The Visitor Centre near the park entrance has a fossil prep lab, a theatre and a gift shop, with public programs in summer. John Ware's Cabin stands beside the centre and opens on selected summer days.
Fifty-eight dinosaur species have been identified in the park, and more than 500 specimens have been removed for museums worldwide. Most articulated skeletons come from the Dinosaur Park Formation, laid down between about 76.5 and 74.8 million years ago.
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