{"id":760195,"date":"2026-06-25T12:43:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T12:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/760195\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T12:43:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T12:43:18","slug":"rare-fossil-calgary-girls-remarkable-playground-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/760195\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare fossil: Calgary girl’s remarkable playground discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

A seven-year-old girl in Calgary has discovered what experts say could be a millions of years old sea star fossil while playing at a local park. <\/p>\n

What started as an ordinary day at the playground turned into a remarkable discovery for one young Calgarian.<\/p>\n

Seven-year-old Alyssa was exploring a local playground when she decided to take a closer look at a group of boulders surrounding the park.<\/p>\n

While searching for bugs and collecting rocks, she noticed something unusual embedded in the top of one of the stones.<\/p>\n

A dark shape caught her attention, and thanks to her fascination with dinosaurs and fossils, Alyssa suspected it could be something special.<\/p>\n

She asked her parents to contact experts at the Royal Tyrrell Museum.<\/p>\n

\"\"Playground adventure leads seven-year-old Alyssa to remarkable fossil discovery. (City of Calgary) Playground adventure leads seven-year-old Alyssa to remarkable fossil discovery. (City of Calgary) <\/p>\n

After examining the specimen, museum staff confirmed Alyssa had discovered a rare sea star fossil estimated to be between 250 million and 400 million years old.<\/p>\n

The fossil measures about five centimetres across.<\/p>\n

According to Dr. Don Henderson, curator of dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, sea stars require extremely specific conditions to fossilize, making Alyssa\u2019s discovery even more special.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love how preserved it is,\u201d Alyssa said.<\/p>\n

The discovery left her parents proud and excited, while museum staff were equally impressed by her enthusiasm and curiosity.<\/p>\n

Some of the questions she asked about fossils and prehistoric life even stumped the experts.<\/p>\n

To retrieve the fossil, the museum used a diamond saw to cut out the section of rock containing it while leaving the rest of the boulder in place.<\/p>\n

\"\"The fossil discovered by Alyssa measures about five centimetres across. (City of Calgary) The fossil discovered by Alyssa measures about five centimetres across. (City of Calgary) <\/p>\n

City crews are now smoothing the area and will pour new concrete around the remaining rock.<\/p>\n

Alyssa watched the process from a distance and was given the opportunity to hold the fossil she had discovered \u2014 a moment she and her family are unlikely to forget.<\/p>\n

The fossil is now at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, where it will be cleaned and catalogued. Museum officials say it could eventually be put on display.<\/p>\n

\"\"Calgary Parks and Open Spaces staff presented Alyssa with several small gifts. (City of Calgary) Calgary Parks and Open Spaces staff presented Alyssa with several small gifts. (City of Calgary) <\/p>\n

To mark the discovery, Calgary Parks and Open Spaces staff presented Alyssa with several small gifts, including a tree she can plant to remember the day she uncovered a rare piece of Alberta\u2019s ancient history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A seven-year-old girl in Calgary has discovered what experts say could be a millions of years old sea…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[712,49,2798,48],"class_list":["post-760195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}