T.rex Discovery Centre
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  Location within Saskatchewan | |
| Established | 2001 |
|---|---|
| Location | 1 T-Rex Drive Eastend, Saskatchewan, Canada |
| Type | Natural history |
| Visitors | 10,000 |
| Owner | Government of Saskatchewan |
| Website | royalsaskmuseum |
The T.rex Discovery Centre is a natural history museum located in Eastend, Saskatchewan, Canada, and housed in a building designed by Stantec. The T.rex Discovery Centre was opened to the public in 2001, and was intended to house a number of fossils, including the remains of a Tyrannosaurus nicknamed "Scotty" which was found nearby in 1991.[1][2] Management of the T.rex Discovery Centre was assumed by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in 2013.
The idea for a world-class facility to house the fossil record of southwest Saskatchewan began in 1988. Through a series of public meetings, the Town of Eastend, Saskatchewan identified a need for a palaeontological centre to showcase the rich fossil record of the Frenchman River Valley and the Cypress Hills. The T.rex Discovery Centre opened in 2001 in the Frenchman River Valley, about 25 km southeast of Eastend. On February 14, 2013 the Royal Saskatchewan Museum assumed operations of the T.rex Discovery Centre.[3][4]
Galleries
Cretaceous Gallery
This gallery explores the geologic sediments deposited to create the Bearpaw Formation and the Frenchman Formation and the fossils within. This includes invertebrates from the Bearpaw Formation such as ammonite and baculite, fish, shark, turtles and marine reptiles and fossils from the Frenchman Formation including Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops and Hadrosaurus.[5]
Cenozoic Gallery
Some species of mammals, birds and fish survived the K-Pg extinction event. The Ravenscrag Formation is where these fossils were deposited and the gallery examines these creatures from Saskatchewan's prehistoric landscape. On display are reptiles such Borealosuchus and Champsosaurus as well as a life-size cast of the mammal Brontothere.[6]
Fossil Research Station
Museum palaeontologists work year-round in the station to conduct research on fossils collected over the summer field season.[7]
