The Tumbler Ridge Museum is adding a fossilized skull fof an extinct marine reptile to its collection.
The ichthyosaur skull was discovered two summers ago by Kevin Geist and his son in the Kiskatinaw River Valley.
According to the University of Oxford and other paleontological sources, ichthyosaurs lived between roughly 250 and 90 million years ago during the Mesozoic Era.
The marine reptile resembled a mix between a dolphin and a fish, and its name, Ichthyosaur, means “fish lizard.”
The skull was embedded in a 780-pound rock and was recovered by helicopter with help from museum staff and the Tumbler Ridge UNESCO Global Geopark team.
The fossil is now part of the Tumbler Ridge Museum’s collection, where it will be studied. It adds to a fossil collection featuring over 200 million years of biodiversity.