Flood waters and a fisherman’s keen eyes have led to a southern Alberta dinosaur discovery that’s excited scientists.

Last August, a father and son fishing duo from Calgary were casting in the Castle River southwest of Calgary when the younger one spotted the dark fossilized outlines of the skull of a hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur, in a one-tonne sandstone boulder.

The discovery’s unusual location likely makes it an important find, said Dr. Donald Henderson, curator of dinosaurs for the Royal Tyrrell Museum.

“It’s one of the reasons we were so keen to get it — every time we find something different in another part of the province, it’s something different,” said Henderson.

“It means we could be finding new dinosaurs in the extreme southwest of the province.”

He said it’s believed the 2013 flood shifted the boulder, making the 80-million-year-old fossil more visible.

Late last month, it was removed from the popular fishing spot with the help of a helicopter and taken to the museum near Drumheller.

Researchers to no avail scoured the river 100 metres in both directions, said Henderson for other parts of the dinosaur.

It’s rare for such a specimen — whose scales, teeth and vertebrae are visible in detail — to be so well-preserved, said Henderson.

“It’s in really, really hard sandstone, otherwise it would have been smashed up a long time ago,” said Henderson, adding it likely more of the reptile’s fossilized remains are concealed within the boulder.

“It’s sort of coiled up inside ... at the time of its death, the neck and head curled back and the body was swept up in this river of sand.

“It’s a 3-D fossil, most are 2-D and smashed flat.”

The rock’s hardness will also make it more difficult to excavate but Henderson said he’s eager to fast-track that work, to be done with stone saws and mini-jackhammers.

“I’m going to move it to the front of queue because I really want to see what’s in it,” he said.

bill.kaufmann@sunmedia.ca

On Twitter: @SUNBillKaufmann

The Royal Tyrrell Museum has uploaded a video of the fossil's extraction from the riverbed. You can watch it below. Mobile users, click here.

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