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1-800-665-6527
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Area: 87.3 hectares
Tourist region: Gaspésie
How did fossil fishes and plants live on our planet 380 million years ago? You'll find out when you visit Parc national de Miguasha, a real gem in Québec's park system. The park is a unique piece of our natural heritage, fascinating young and old alike with its unusually well-preserved fossils and the light it sheds on a key stage in evolution. Its scientific renown persuaded UNESCO to add Miguasha Park to
the World Heritage List in November 1999.
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Year of Darwin
In the scientific world, 2009 is devoted to Charles Darwin in celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book On the Origin of Species, in which the British naturalist presented a new understanding of the evolution of species. At Miguasha, knowledge stemming from fossil research flows into the continuum of Charles Darwin’s ideas, the cliff’s fossils being an eloquent testimony to a chapter in the evolution of life on Earth.
In the summer of 2009, the Museum of Natural History will honour Charles Darwin with a talk about this famous scientist, and spotlight the “Year of Darwin” on the guided visit of the museum’s permanent exhibition. |
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New prince of Miguasha
This summer, by touring the permanent exhibition of the Natural History Museum of Parc national de Miguasha, visitors will be able to discover a few new fossil specimens, including Bothriolepsis canadensis and Eusthenopteron foordi, found in the cliffs and on the shore of Miguasha in June and July 2006, after having spent 380 million years in the mud and rock of the Gaspésie. The exhibition has reserved a place of choice for the discovery of Eusthenopteron foordi, also known under the name of Prince of Miguasha.
Since 1879, some 3,000 specimens of Eusthenopteron foordi have been uncovered in the sediments of Miguasha cliff, making this species one of the most commonly occurring in the Escuminac formation. The already famous skull in three dimensions is unquestionably one of the nicest specimens to ever be found in 130 years of digs. Norman Parent, a paleontology technician at Parc national de Miguasha, explains that the conditions of conservation of this specimen are such that one has the impression of seeing the fossil in movement. What more need he say!
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© 2008 La Sépaq, all rights reserved.
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