By By Marcus Hondro Nov 12, 2014 in Science Bones of a duck-billed dinosaur have been discovered in a river in the Canadian province of Alberta, the Royal Tyrrell Museum revealed this week. Two fisherman came upon the find in September and it may be from a previously unknown species. "It is rather surprising that any part of dinosaur fossil could survive being tumbled in a river full of cobbles and boulders,” the curator of dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrrell, Dr. Donald Henderson said. “Therefore, we needed to quickly remove the specimen from the river system to save it for scientific research. Due to the precarious location of the block in the river, the specimen needed to be airlifted by helicopter.” The skull is essentially intact and in its original shape, rare as more often fossils are found flat. It is encased three-dimensionally in the rock and that is what preserved it, though the paleontologists who've been examining it are not sure how it managed to be encased and protect itself so well. While they will ponder that, it pales in importance next to the find itself. “These animals were very common in cretaceous Alberta," Henderson said. "But this is an entirely new area to find dinosaurs for us, and gives us hope that we might find more in the future." Dinosaur fossils are common in Alberta, and in other Canadian provinces, but not often as far south where this find was, near Lethbridge. The Royal Tyrrell Museum is located near Drumheller closer to the center of Alberta, an area ripe for dinosaurs finds. They will be doing tests on this find to ascertain how old it is and to discover if it is indeed a new species of duck-billed dinosaur. Other recent finds in the province include a 70 million-year-old intact and wonderfully preserved The museum is estimating the find, a partial chest, neck and shoulder and virtually the entire skull of the dinosaur, is some 80 million years old. The dinosaur bones were found encased in a 1,300-kilogram boulder museum officials believe was dislodged during flooding in the Castle River in 2013."It is rather surprising that any part of dinosaur fossil could survive being tumbled in a river full of cobbles and boulders,” the curator of dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrrell, Dr. Donald Henderson said. “Therefore, we needed to quickly remove the specimen from the river system to save it for scientific research. Due to the precarious location of the block in the river, the specimen needed to be airlifted by helicopter.”The skull is essentially intact and in its original shape, rare as more often fossils are found flat. It is encased three-dimensionally in the rock and that is what preserved it, though the paleontologists who've been examining it are not sure how it managed to be encased and protect itself so well. While they will ponder that, it pales in importance next to the find itself.“These animals were very common in cretaceous Alberta," Henderson said. "But this is an entirely new area to find dinosaurs for us, and gives us hope that we might find more in the future."Dinosaur fossils are common in Alberta, and in other Canadian provinces, but not often as far south where this find was, near Lethbridge. The Royal Tyrrell Museum is located near Drumheller closer to the center of Alberta, an area ripe for dinosaurs finds. They will be doing tests on this find to ascertain how old it is and to discover if it is indeed a new species of duck-billed dinosaur.Other recent finds in the province include a 70 million-year-old intact and wonderfully preserved baby dinosaur skeleton unearthed in Alberta's Dinosaur Provincial Park in 2010, a nearly complete skeleton of a triceratops dinosaur found near Drumheller in the summer of 2012 and the skull of a horned dinosaur discovered in the Badlands of Alberta in 2013. More about duckbilled dinosaur, dinosaur fossil discovered in alberta, two fisherman find dinosaur More news from Show all 12 duckbilled dinosaur dinosaur fossil disc... two fisherman find d...