Jurassic Adventure

If you\’re wondering what the connection is between horses and fossils, the answer will delight Jurassic Park (and World!) fans across the board. Did you know that many different horse sounds were used in the making of the original Jurassic Park movie? For instance, in the original movie (which is now one of 5 box-office hits) introduced us to intelligence of the Velociraptor. Do you remember the part when the Raptor appeared in the door of the kitchen, breathing terrifyingly on the glass window in pursuit of the two kids? The breathing noise was the recorded sounds of a horse.

And that wasn\’t the only usage of Equid sounds in the movie.

The Gallimimus flock sounds like a stampede of wild horses. The squeal the Gallimimuses make when they’re passing by the actors who marvel at their likeness to a \”flock of birds, evading a predator,\” are actually a recorded mare in heat. Same goes for the squeal the ill-fated one at the end of the sequence makes when it\’s attacked by a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The brachiosaur’s singing is made from the unique sound a donkey, slowed down into a \”song-like\” sound. And in case you were wondering about the Triceratops
 – a lot of cow noises were used to animate that species in the movie.

So for all you Jurassic World fans – did you know that we have the largest Guinness World Record-holding Mosasaur in Morden, Manitoba? He even has a name! In 1974 \”Bruce\” was discovered north of Thornhill within the Pembina Member of the Pierre Shale Formation. Bruce lived during the late Cretaceous period, approximately 80 million years ago. He swam in a deep sea environment with numerous other marine reptiles. It took approximately two field seasons to excavate the skeleton, which was reasonably complete with 65-70% of the original bones.

Aaaaaand we have Bruce featured in the July/August issue of Western Horse Review, as part of our #HaveHorsesWillTravel feature! If you\’re headed to the Manitoba Stampede & Exhibition this July 19-22, the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre (which features Bruce, Suzy and a rare new mosasaur skeleton coming July 25!) is only roughly 74 kms away.

The incredible new mosasaur skeleton coming to the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre (CFDC) is of a rare species known as Kourisodon puntledgensis, or razor-toothed mosasaur of the Puntledge River. It\’s a unique species whose fossils have only been found in Canada and Japan. The new addition further establishes the CFDC as one of the world’s foremost collections of mosasaur.

“This addition has been a long time in the planning stages and we are very excited to see it finally come to fruition,” said CFDC executive director Peter Cantelon. “People will notice right away this is a very different mosasaur from Bruce and Suzy – particularly its ferocious, razor-like teeth.”