Maritime teens credited with discovering new species of dragonfly from 300 million years ago
For 17-year-old best friends Luke Allen and Rowan Norrad of Halifax, summer means going to Grand Lake, N.B., and searching the rocky shorelines for signs of life from long ago – and the two have been making a name for themselves with their significant fossil finds.
"My dad was the one who introduced me to the fossils here," says Norrad.
"He showed me a few plant fossils they'd found before and I was hooked. I brought Luke down – he's my best friend so I brought him down to stay with us at the cottage and I showed him – he's been coming here to do it again ever since."
The two head out on fossil-finding missions in Grand Lake most days they're in the area, spending hours at a time scouring the rocks and recording their research – a passion for palaeontology that's only further fuelled by their finds.
"Basically we just walk up and down the beach flipping over all the rocks that we think might have fossils," says Allen.
"We've become pretty familiar with this area over the 10 years we've been looking here – so we kind of know generally what areas to look in. But a lot of it comes down to luck, so I guess we've been pretty lucky in these past few years."
You could chalk it up to a combination of both luck and skill that have led these high school students to make several very scientifically significant discoveries.
"In addition to hundreds of fossilized footprints of amphibians and reptiles, some of which might be new to the scientific fossil records, (Luke and Rowan) have also made many discoveries of invertebrates," says Matt Stimson, assistant curator of paleontology at the New Brunswick Museum.
"Things like little land snails and several plant fossils and most recently, a dragonfly."
The new species is called Brunellopteron Norradi, which is named partly after Paul Brunelle of the New Brunswick Museum who passed away last year – and partly after the Norrad family.
The fossil of a dragonfly wing discovered in the Grand Lake area was sent off to the Natural Museum of History in Paris to be studied – and recently published findings show that it's a new genus and a new species.
"It's amazing to be involved in something that important," says Allen.
The new species is called Brunellopteron Norradi, which is named partly after Paul Brunelle of the New Brunswick Museum who passed away last year – and partly after the Norrad family.
"Back then, we knew it was a dragonfly wing, but we didn't know what kind of dragonfly wing," says Stimson.
"The reason for that, is that it's something brand new."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.