Drumheller in running for dino capital of the world

CALGARY – Is Drumheller the dinosaur capital of the world?

According to a blog poll on the Smithsonian’s website, Alberta’s renowned Royal Tyrrell Museum is in the running against Liaoning, China, and a town in Texas as the globe’s top paleontological hot spot.

The blog poll began after the director of the Burpee Museum of Natural History declared that his facility near Chicago — with a $10-million expansion–was "the dinosaur capital of the world."

Blogger Brian Switek had his doubts and raised the question on Smithsonian.com,asking people to vote for the place that most deserved the title. "Naturally, it depends on who you ask," Switek wrote on Dinosaur Tracking. "The town of Drumheller in Alberta, Canada, justifiably touts itself as a top dino spot, but the town of Glen Rose, Texas, has also been playing up its reputation as a place rich in dinosaur fossils. Which town deserves the title of the Dinosaur Capital of the World?"

Those associated with the Drumheller museum argue its case.

"The Texas locality has significant trackways, and I think that China has really an impressive history of fossil finding, feathered dinosaurs, really relevant specimens, but I don’t think anywhere has all of that except for us," said Kathryn Valentine, spokeswoman for the Royal Tyrrell.

The world-renowned museum is located in Dinosaur Provincial Park, a United Nations world heritage site. It contains one of the richest deposits of fossils, as well as the unusual Badlands landscape.

"I can’t think of anywhere else that’s impacted by the geology as we are. We have to be the dinosaur capital of the world," said Valentine. "It’s why we’re here, it’s what we do, it’s who we are."

The Alberta government also issued a plea in its monthly newsletter to get people to vote.

This year has been a record-breaking one for the Drumheller attraction, which has seen 400,000 visitors.

"It’s a place that’s always changing. We have full-time researchers who spend time in the field on every continent," said Valentine. Staff are in Mongolia and have just returned from Romania.

The blog is generating buzz about Drumheller, so the World Wide Web exposure is helpful, she said.

"It’s exciting and fun–it’s drawing a little bit more attention to who were are on a grander scale," she said.

"I think anyone who’s spent time in Drumheller knows it is the dinosaur capital of the world."

szickefoose@theherald. canwest.com