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Past stories Living off-the-grid New Brunswick's Saint John River Ontario's Bruce Trail Canadian Ski Marathon Elk Island National Park Rallying for rallysport Montreal - Circus city Beluga Bytes Dawson - a musical adventure Bald Eagle Confederation Trail Boning up on the badlands Ukkusiksalik National Park Geocaching Discover Cypress Hills Saint Joseph's Oratory A walk through Stanley Park Sudbury's science centre Acadia continues Toronto's underground world

When dinosaurs ruled, Alberta was largely a steamy, subtropical marsh with a climate more like northern Florida today. During that period, 40 dino species are known to have inhabited the warm, wet coastal plain that extended east to the edge of the vast Bearpaw Sea, which spread across today's North American plains.

The humid environment provided hothouse conditions for reedlike plants and shrubby flowering vegetation in low-lying areas, while lush forests dotted with palms, giant redwoods and other evergreens covered higher ground. Dinosaurs shared the region with fish, reptiles, birds, amphibians, pterosaurs (flying reptiles, such as the pterodactyl) and small mammals.

One of Canada's largest prehistoric plant collections is located in the Cretaceous Garden at the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Most specimens were imported from countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain, since their close relatives are long gone from the Alberta landscape.