Last week I asked what should be the national fossil of the USA and (to the surprise of absolutely no one) Tyrannosaurus won that title by a mile.
I liked the idea, so I thought I‘d do that again, but this time ask you guys what should be the national fossil for Canada. Honestly, I‘d like to do this for a lot of countries and maybe I can make a map for it in the end or something.
Same as last time: it could be a fossil that is just exceptionally well preserved and beautiful, had a huge impact on paleontology and our knowledge of the past, is very common/representive of the area, is beloved and famous in the public eye, is just a very unique and interesting find, or has any other justification.
Anomalocaris: Everybody‘s favorite “weird shrimp“, one of the earliest complex life forms and apex predator from the famous Burgess Shale fossil site in British Colombia, one of the best places to find creatures from the Cambrian, more than 500 million years ago.
Tiktaalik: An important step in the transition from fish to land-living tetrapods first found in Nunavut (Art by Zina Deretsky)
Edmontosaurus: A large duck-billed dinosaur with populations raging across large parts of North America and named after the Canadian city Edmonton
Albertosaurus: A large carnivorous dinosaur closely related to Tyrannosaurus and named after the Canadian province Alberta, where it was first found
Borealopelta: Only discovered in 2011, the beautifully preserved ankylosaur included osteoderms (the armor on its body), skin and even stomach contents. It was in such good conditions that even the color could be studied (it was reddish brown)
Castoroides: Since Canada‘s national animal is the beaver and I wanted to give you a mammal option/something more recent, may I present to you Castoroides, the giant beaver. The pleistocene animal was one of the biggest rodents of all time and common across North America
What should be the national fossil of Canada?
Anomalocaris
Tiktaalik
Edmontosaurus
Albertosaurus
Borealopelta
Castoroides
Other (Comment)
Voting ended onAug 7, 2023
PS: If someone has suggestions for Mexico or other Central American countries, let me know.