A Manitoba Star Attraction!

"A Top 5 Travel Destination" - Macleans Magazine

The Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre houses the largest collection of marine reptile fossils in Canada. If you like dinosaurs or sea monsters you will love "Bruce" our 43 ft (13 mtr) Mosasaur,the fiercest of all the marine reptiles. He's bigger than a T. Rex and just as scary. It's because of him that the Cretaceous seas were considered the most dangerous of all time.

Participate in one of Manitoba’s hottest summer programs - our FOSSIL DIG ADVENTURE TOURS. Our specialty is hunting for fossils, finding fossils and collecting fossils.  The Fossil Dig Adventure Tours are offered in 1/2 day, 1 day, 2 day & 5 day durations.  The program has a 100% SUCCESS RATE at FINDING FOSSILS since 2008!! REGISTER TODAY!!

We operate approximately 30 active dig sites in the Morden area.

The Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre offers various programs and tours designed to educate and inspire.

Fossil Dig Adventure Tours: 

Our tours have a 100% success rate of finding fossils since 2008! Experience the life of a Palaeontologist hunting for fossils. Take an adventure back to Cretaceous times when dinosaurs walked the earth and great sea reptiles ruled the oceans. Become a palaeontologist as you join our excavation team in the scenic Pembina Hills. The tours range in duration from 1/2 day to 5 days. Each program includes a guided tour of the museum and on-site training. Participants must be at least 10 years old.  


School Programs:

Looking for a fun and educational field trip for your class? The CFDC has many options for all age groups. All school programs correspond to the Manitoba School Science Curriculum and are grade specific. We offer a School Museum Tour program and a School Fossil Dig Adventure Tour program.  


Museum Guided Tours:

Groups are invited to come on a guided tour through our gallery and learn about Manitoba's geological past. Our tour guides provide an informative glimpse into the Western Interior Seaway, describing the sea creatures that would have roamed this sea.
We offer a Basic & VIP tour. The VIP tour includes a tour of our vast collections room.  


Summer Kids Programs:

The CFDC is offering fun and educational summer programs for kids. We believe that it is important for children to be aware of the history of the region we live in. We tap into the natural curiosity children have of the "dinosaur" era and deliver fun and educational programming.

Audio Tours:

Enjoy a self-guided audio tour of the exhibit galleries at the CFDC.  Audio content is offered in English, French, German & Japanese.

Vacation Packages: 

A full listing of exciting Vacation Packages is listed on our website at http://www.discoverfossils.com/vacationpackages.php. 

Indoor Fossil Tour:

The program begins with a Guided V.I.P. Tour of the museum. The program also includes an introduction to fossil collecting techniques, identification and the significance of fossils.  Participants will spend the duration of the program with a museum guide participating in the activities that paleontologists do during the winter months (or rainy summer days).  This program is offered as a ½ Day or as a Full Day program.

Paleontology Field Internship:

NEW IN 2011! Explore your interests in palaeontology, geology, history & earth sciences with the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre's Palaeontology Field Internship.  This is a 10 day comprehensive internship program.

About Bruce:

Family: Mosasauridae

Subfamily: Tylosaurinae
Genus: Hainosaurus
Species: pembinensis

Bruce lived during the late Cretaceous period, approximately 80 million years ago. He swam in a deep sea environment with numerous other marine reptiles. This ocean is termed the Western Interior Seaway and split North America in two. The Seaway spanned from the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean to the warm currents of the Gulf of Mexico.

Bruce belonged to a group of Mosasaurs called the Tylosaurs. These Tylosaurs were the largest of the Mosasaurs, Bruce being the largest within Canada for this time period, approximately 43 feet long (~13m) from snout to tail. Bruce was a fierce predator, top of the food chain in the Seaway eating anything it its path from plesiosaurs to ammonites (shelled organisms).

The tail of Bruce is exceptionally long, moving side to side to propel him forward with snake-like undulations, while the large flippers primarily steered. Palaeontologists think the Mosasaurs lineage was branched off from a lizard group know today as the Monitor Lizards.

In 1974 Bruce was discovered north of Thornhill within the Pembina Member of the Pierre Shale Formation. It took approximately two field seasons to excavate the skeleton. The skeleton was reasonably complete with 65-70% of the original bones.