Yoho National Park

Burgess Shale

Burgess Shale is one of the world's greatest sites for early Cambrian soft-bodied fossilized animals. The quality of preservation and their age (about half a billion years old) makes the Burgess Shale a valuable scientific find.

Mount Stephen

Mount Stephen yields a trilobite bed, which is middle Cambrian, approximately 515 million years old.

Anomalocaris The legs of the Anomalocaris indicate that it could be up to a meter in length, making it the largest known arthropod. The best specimens of this creature come from the Burgess Shale, making it from the Cambrian period.

Anomalocaris Photo courtesy of Royal British Columbia Museum [RBCM.EH.89.4.762]

Anomalocaris Mouth This fossilized mouth belongs to the arthropod Anomalocaris. It is known as the largest arthropod found at Burgess Shale.

Anmmouth

Canadia A annelid which is about one to two inches in length. The head bore a pair of slender tentacles while the body was covered with innumerable setae (short bristles).

Canadia

Hyolithes Dating back to the Cambrian period, these extinct mollusks have oval or cone-shaped, elongated shells. They are often found in clusters on bedding planes of Cambrian shale or as groups of shells in limestone.

Hyolithes Photo courtesy of Royal British Columbia Museum [RBCM.EH.89.4.790 a]

Ogygopsys A middle Cambrian trilobite, Ogygopsis had a large head and tail with a body divided into eight segments. It is a common fossil from the Burgess Shale.

Ogygopsys Photo courtesy of Royal British Columbia Museum [RBCM.EH.89.4.773]

Trilobite Trilobites are arthropods that had a hard outer skeleton, segmented bodies and jointed legs. They first appeared in the Cambrian period and disappeared at the end of the Permian period.

Trilobite