Big Bert
Meet Big Bert – the Carrot River Crocodile
On June 28, 2011, Big Bert moved into his temporary home at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. Bert – also known as Terminonaris Robusta - is a 90 million year old crocodile that once lived on the shores of a warm, shallow inland sea that covered most of Saskatchewan. He was probably a fish eater as shown by his long slender toothy mouth – perfect for catching and holding wiggly slippery prey.
If you would like to find out more about Bert, visit the RSM.
Quick Q&A’s About Big Bert
Q: What the heck is Big Bert?
A: Saskatchewan. This marine predator was 7.6 m (25 feet) long; its skull alone was more that 1 m long. It lived around 92 million years ago when Saskatchewan was under a great inland sea.
Q: When did it live?
A: The RSM palaeontologists have determined it lived around 92 million years ago when Saskatchewan was under a great inland sea.
Q: When and where was the fossil discovered?
A: Pieces of the skeleton were first discovered 20 years ago in 1991 in the Carrot River quarry in the Pasquia Hills of east-central Saskatchewan by palaeontologist Tim Tokaryk of the RSM. A year later, the majority of it was collected by the RSM and the Canadian Museum of nature
Q: Who named him Big Bert? How did he get his name?
A: The scientific name for this crocodile is Terminonaris Robusta. He was given the name Big Bert by Tim Tokaryk after someone in his family
Q: Why is this important specimen?
A: It’s important because it helps scientists, like those with the RSM, to understand the evolution of this type of crocodiles as well as how they lived and died in an ancient ecosystem.
Q: Are these the real bones?
A: No, the skeleton on display is a perfect copy made from the actual fossilized bones which are being kept carefully for future research.
Q: What other cool fossils does the RSM have?
A: In 2001 Tim Tokaryk, the discoverer of Big Bert, found another, nearly complete crocodile skeleton in Big Muddy area Saskatchewan. This one was younger, only 55-60 million years old, smaller, about 2 metres in length, and of a type that is more in line with modern crocodiles. This illustrates that there are likely a lot more fossils to find in Saskatchewan, and that the RSM’s Tim Tokaryk has a knack for discovering skeletons, especially crocodiles.