110 million year old fossil found in canada

The 110-million-year-old dinosaur fossil was found in Canada's oil sands.

An oil company worker has stumbled upon a rare fossil of a plant-eating dinosaur buried in the oil sands of Canada's western province of Alberta.

The 110-million-year-old fossil belongs to an ankylosaur, a dinosaur with powerful limbs, armor plating and a club-like tail, Reuters reported.

The find has been a surprise to many archeologists since the region where it was found was covered by water in ancient times.

"We've never found a dinosaur in this location," said Donald Henderson, a curator at Alberta's Royal Tyrrell Museum. "Because the area was once a sea, most finds are invertebrates such as clams and ammonites."

Experts say the fossil had once been a creature about 5 meters long and 2 meters wide.

"It is pretty amazing that it survived in such good condition," said Henderson, adding that the fossil was not flattened by the heavy rock sediment.

"It is also the earliest complete dinosaur that we have from this province."

Work has been halted at the site when the discovery made and archeologists will have three weeks to remove the fossil and take it to the Royal Tyrrell museum.

The last major fossil found in northern Alberta was a giant reptile called an ichthyosaur, which was discovered 10 years ago near Fort McMurray.