Campus Oddities

April 23, 2010

Basement beast

It may have lived in an ancient aquatic environment some 75 million years ago but this Mosasaur has lately been calling the basement of the Geology Building home.

The fossilized remains of this ferocious marine predator, considered to be a close relative of snakes, were found near Lake Diefenbaker and are in the Saskatchewan Museum in Regina. The university acquired replicas of the bones some time ago and now, undergraduate student Evan Nordquist has taken on the job of reconstructing the Mosasaur.

Using Styrofoam and aluminum rods, Nordquist has been fashioning the missing bones and connecting them together to create a complete creature. Plans are to eventually move the Mosasaur out of the basement and onto public display in the building.

If you know of something that has a great story, would make a great photo or is just plain weird and wonderful, please email us at ocn@usask.ca or call 966-6610.