Dino Trails: The Dinosaurs of Dinosaur Provincial Park

In this brief article I share some palaeontology videos I came across online by Brandy Yanchyk exploring palaeontology and fieldwork in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta Canada.

So, here is my first article of 2022 which is pretty crazy! Currently I am in the process of finishing off my MSc in Palaeobiology and we are now 6 months away until Jurassic World: Dominion releases in cinemas on June 10^th which is very exciting for Jurassic and dinosaur fans across the globe. Before jumping straight in with a scientific focused article here on Jurassic Finds this year, I wanted to write this article about some palaeontology video content that I came across and really enjoyed.

Before I get into this article properly, I just wanted to say a massive ‘Thank You’ to all my global readers out there who have read my palaeontology articles. Over 2021 Jurassic Finds passed a staggering 13,353 views, with the blog passing 26,862 views in total over the past four years! Which is an incredible feat for the blog and for my palaeontology outreach.

Dino Trails an insight into palaeontology in Alberta

The Dino Trails series is a fantastic set of videos breaking down fieldwork and palaeontological discoveries in Dinosaur Provincial Park, a hot bed for dinosaur discoveries in Alberta, Canada. These videos were filmed in 2017 by Brandy Yanchyk and follow renowned palaeontologist Professor Phil Currie and other renowned palaeontologists who have been working on research in the Dinosaur Provincial Park area.

I was really fortunate enough to have some email correspondence with Professor Phil Currie a few years back when I was looking to pursue palaeontology as a career. He gave me some excellent advice about what qualifications I needed, the types of jobs available and whether it was something I was serious about pursuing. I will always be ‘Thankful’ for his helpful advice which led me to finding out about the MSc in Palaeobiology at the University of Bristol which I am now currently in the process of finishing.

Dinosaur Provincial Park is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the richest fossil localities of dinosaurs in the world with major dinosaurs like Corythosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Centrosaurus, Chasmosaurus, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus Rex and many more being identified from Alberta.

The Dino Trails video all feature fieldwork, interviews, fossil discussion and more, you can check out each individual video out listed below. There are two seasons, and the videos aren’t that long between 10-17 minutes at a maximum which is ideal if you don’t have much time available to watch a full dinosaur documentary. The videos are very well filmed and break down palaeontology in an easy-to-understand way, whilst detailing the geological and historical importance of Canadas dinosaur bonebed deposits. If you haven’t seen these videos already, they are all well worth checking out!

Season 1 of Dino Trails

Dino Trails Episode 1– The Dinosaur Expert

Dino Trails Episode 2 – The Royal Tyrrell Museum

Dino Trails Episode 3 – The Fossil Hunter

Dino Trails Episode 4 – Northern Alberta’s Dinosaur Discoveries

Dino Trails Episode 5 – British Columbia’s Dinosaur Frontier

Season 2 of Dino Trails

Dino Trails S2 Episode 1 – Southern Alberta’s Dinosaurs

Dino Trails S2 Episode 2 – The McAbee Fossil Beds Heritage Site

Dino Trails S2 Episode 3 – Edmonton’s Dinosaurs

Dino Trails S2 Episode 4 – Grande Prairie’s Dinosaurs

Dino Trails S2 Episode 5 – British Columbia’s Dinosaur Footprints

Fossil hunting and fieldwork

As you can imagine the above videos have really sparked my desire to do a lot more fieldwork. Fieldwork and fossil hunting for various reasons has been fairly limited for me recently so I am looking forward to taking some time out once my MSc is out the way to do some fossil hunting on the Jurassic Coast. Fieldwork experience overseas however has always been something I have really wanted to pursue and these videos above have just fuelled this passion even more!

I hope you have enjoyed reading this article and watching these fantastic palaeontology videos from filmmaker Brandy Yanchyk. The YouTube series really does emphasise the importance of palaeontology and how new fossil discoveries are changing our views of dinosaurs and the environments that dinosaurs lived in. I will be back soon with a new scientific focused article for Jurassic Finds but in the mean time do give the blog a follow, check out my past articles and my palaeontology and podcast outreach at my linktree.