P.E.I. teacher discovers 300-million-year-old fossil during walk on the beach

A Prince Edward Island school teacher has made a major paleontological discovery -- a 300-million-year-old fossil.

Lisa Cormier was walking along the beach at Cape Egmont in western P.E.I. when she noticed something strange and decided to take a closer look.

“There were ribs,” she says. “When I looked more at it I saw a spine and a skull.”

There have only been two articulated skeletons -- bones preserved together in their natural arrangement -- ever found on the island.

P.E.I. is famous for its beaches and cliffs, and those cliffs are the reason fossils are being found in the province.

As the cliffs break down and erode away, they expose the rock underneath -- and sometimes they expose more than rock.

While it may look like one, experts say Cormier’s discovery isn’t a dinosaur. The fossil may be the first of its kind ever found.

“Here on Prince Edward Island, we don’t have any dinosaur fossils, unfortunately, but the fossils of the creatures that lived here 300 million years ago were just as cool,” says Laura MacNeil, owner of Prehistoric Island Tours. “Basically, all of the rocks are about 60 million years older than the dinosaurs.”

Cormier says that hasn’t dampened her spirts at all.

“To have more knowledge about humanity and the story of the earth is very, very special,” she says. “Can’t wait to figure out what it is and learn more about it.”

It’s possible that, if the fossil is found to be a new species, it could be named after Cormier.

The last animal found in the area was named Erpetonyx arsenaultorum, after the Arsenault who discovered it.

Meanwhile, there is hope among the island’s palaeontological community that the visibility of these finds will lead to more discoveries.

“As people learn about what can be found here and what these types of fossils look like, it’s very possible that in the upcoming years, that there could be a lot more getting uncovered and discovered,” says MacNeil.