Ancient mosasaur named Bruce now an official Manitoba emblem

A scaly skinned, flesh-eating lizard that lived between 65 million and 135 million years ago has been named a new emblem of Manitoba.

The mosasaur, a vicious hunter known as the T-Rex of the sea, hunted in the ancient Western Interior Seaway that once covered much of Manitoba during the Cretaceous Period.

Manitoba's lieutenant governor Janice Filmon has given royal assent to Bill 200, officially making the mosasaur — specifically Bruce, whose skeleton is displayed at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre (CFDC) in Morden — the province's "Official Fossil Emblem."

The 13.10-metre-long Bruce — discovered in 1974 near Thornhill​, just west of Morden — had been known as the largest mosasaur in Canada, but last year his status was made global and recognized by the Guinness World Record book.

• Morden's mosasaur Bruce makes Guinness World Record

The CFDC had been working on having a fossil emblem designated for about a year with Morden-Winkler MLA Cameron Friesen developing the private member's bill that became Bill 200. 

"I am very pleased to see Bill 200 passed so quickly in the Manitoba Legislature," said Friesen. "Recognizing the mosasaur as an official emblem of the province is a significant development and demonstrates that the CFDC and its marine reptile fossil collection has importance not just for our area but for all Manitobans."

Bruce is the province's eighth official emblem. The others are:

• Floral emblem — prairie crocus (Anemone patens).
• Avian emblem — great grey owl (Strix nebulosa).
• Arboreal emblem — white spruce (Picea glauca).
• Soil — orthic black chernozem ("Newdale soil").
• Fish emblem — walleye  (Sander vitreus).
• Mammal emblem — plains bison.
• Grass emblem — big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii).