What are paleontologists digging up at Edmonton’s Danek Bonebed? We head down into the ravine to answer that question and a whole lot more questions about dinosaurs from Edmonton kids.

The Danek Bonebed is an extraordinary site in Edmonton originally discovered by local sculptor and fossil enthusiast Danek Mozdzenski. It is filled with rich deposits of fossils, particularly one type of duck-billed dinosaur named Edmontosaurus regalis.

In this episode, we gathered questions from 4 Edmonton kids:

• Sarina Assiff wondered how many bones are in a dinosaur’s body.
• Ahmed Thraya asked about the relationship between Albertosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex.
• Katie LeBrun asked how many Albertosaurus skeletons have been discovered, and when the Great Dinosaur Rush ended.
• Kalyna Tichkowsky asked whether there were really caves that lead back to the dinosaur times, whether there was Lego in the dinosaur times, and what some of the fish were in that time.

This site is the focus of a University of Alberta course called PALEO 400 – Paleontology Field School. Students come here to learn how to do real field work each year in these small quarries along Whitemud Creek.

The University of Alberta’s Phil Currie and Clive Coy were good enough to answer some of our questions, along with students Caroline Sinclair and Taia Wyenberg-Henzler.

Further reading:

• Paleo 400 at the University of Alberta
• Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences issue on The Danek Edmontosaurus Bonebed
• Backyard dino dig ‘all I need,’ says world-renowned palaeontologist Philip Currie (CBC.ca)
• Unrelated: Registration for the June 4 Ritchie history walk.