Picture Alberta's natural beauty and several distinct landscapes come to mind. These landscapes are Alberta's natural regions, also known as the Canadian Shield, Rocky Mountain, Grassland, Foothills, Parkland and Boreal Forest natural regions.Each natural region is further divided into sub-regions based on even more specific landscape, climate and species distinctions. There are twenty sub-regions in Alberta.Alberta's parks & protected areas preserve representative samples of this environmental diversity for all time.Dinosaur Provincial Park helps preserve a part of the Grassland Natural Region.

Grassland Natural Region
The Grassland Natural Region is characterized by cold winters, warm summers, high winds and low precipitation. The region is a flat to gently rolling plain with a few major hill systems, punctuated by exposed bedrock, carved sandstone cliffs, ancient boulders and other reminders of the last ice age. Where wind and water have carved the bedrock, unique landscapes known as badlands exist. Plants have adapted to the severe moisture shortage of mid-to-late summer.

Dinosaur Provincial Park is located in the Dry Mixedgrass Sub-region of the Grassland Natural Region. This is the warmest and driest sub-region in Alberta. Permanent streams are relatively rare, though the ones that do exist are deeply carved into the bedrock in some places. This has exposed Cretaceous shales and sandstones, creating extensive badlands in some areas.

The Badlands
Great rivers that flowed here 75 million years ago left sand and mud deposits that make up the valley walls, hills and hoodoos of modern-day Dinosaur Provincial Park. At the end of the last ice age (about 13,000 years ago) water from the melting ice carved the valley through which the Red Deer River now flows. Today, water from prairie creeks and run-off continues to sculpt the layers of these badlands, the largest in Canada. The result is an eerie landscape that looks like another world!

Dinosaurs
Seventy-five million years ago, the landscape was very different. The climate was subtropical, with lush forests covering a coastal plain. Rivers flowed east, across the plain into a warm inland sea. The low swampy country was home to a variety of animals, including dinosaurs. The conditions were also perfect for the preservation of their bones as fossils. Today, after a century of excavations over 150 complete dinosaur skeletons have been discovered, as well as disorganized concentrations of bones called 'bone beds.'

Dinosaur Checklist (84 kb)

Birds, Animals & Flowers
The three distinct habitats of Dinosaur Provincial Park support many animals and plants. Cottonwood and willow trees share the moist riverbanks with saskatoon, rose and buffalo-berry bushes. Cacti, greasewood and many species of sage survive in the hot dry badlands. Prairie grasses dominate the landscape above the valley rim. Many different animals make their home here. Watch for mule and white-tailed deer as well as cottontail rabbits. Coyotes may be seen but are more often heard. Look for pronghorn antelope on the vast rolling prairie. Birdwatching is excellent in May and June in the cottonwood groves where warblers, woodpeckers and waterfowl are easy to observe. Away from the river's edge scan the sky for golden eagles, prairie falcons, and mountain bluebirds.

Bird Checklist (57 kb)
Flora Checklist (83 kb)