Happy Birthday, Bruce: Mosasaur turns 80,000,042 in Manitoba
The gathering was also a belated warm welcome for Bruce's life-sized replica, which arrived in Manitoba in May
It was a roaring good time in Morden, Man. on Saturday — Bruce Mosasaur turned 80,000,042 and fans turned up to celebrate.
According to the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre, the celebration included cake, refreshments, singing happy birthday to the world's largest mosasaur (ancient sea creature for those who have not seen Jurassic World) and even a piñata.
The gathering was also a belated warm welcome for Bruce's life-sized replica, which arrived in Manitoba in May.
The real creature was dug up in a quintessential Prairie pasture near the southwest Manitoba city in the 1970s.
Mosasaurs like him and his companion, Suzy, who is also at the museum, used to cruise the shallows in search of prey during the Cretaceous period. Their fossils have been found as far afield as the Netherlands, New Zealand, Japan, Syria and across North America.
Dig sites in southern Manitoba have also uncovered a prehistoric squid and bird fossils, giving scientists new insight into what Western Canada looked like 80 million years ago.