Cape Breton Fossil Centre

Cape Breton Fossil Centre Main page for the Cape Breton Fossil Centre & Sydney Mines Heritage Museum!

05/31/2026

We open *Tuesday*. (On the radio we said June 1st, but that's a Monday. Our hours are Tuesday-Saturday. Oops!)

Had a blast supporting the MS Walk today in North Sydney with Terry the Pterosaur and Baby Dino. Made a friend along the...
05/31/2026

Had a blast supporting the MS Walk today in North Sydney with Terry the Pterosaur and Baby Dino. Made a friend along the way. Fred Tilley MLA Northside Westmount

🎉FREE SCHOOL TOURS THIS SUMMER! 🎉 We're thrilled to announce we've received sponsorship from GFL Environmental Inc. that...
05/20/2026

🎉FREE SCHOOL TOURS THIS SUMMER! 🎉 We're thrilled to announce we've received sponsorship from GFL Environmental Inc. that will allow us to waive the full cost of admission to the Fossil Centre for 500 kids this June!

It's our dream to make access the Centre free for all of Cape Breton's youth and this sponsorship is a big step towards making that happen.

We'd love to extend this free offer to even more kids. This is where you can help: Every $3 donation provides access to child. To support this campaign, use the link below! *Note: All donations are eligible for a charitable tax receipt.* https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/sydney-mines-community-heritage-society/campaign/free-school-access/

If you're a teacher looking for a memorable field trip, please use this sign up form. Spaces are limited for the summer, so reach out to secure your place! https://forms.gle/xv8NXrt2Tvi6ZKdN7

Thank you, GFL Environmental, and thank you to our incredible community for helping us share our passion for Cape Breton's fossils with the next generation!

We'll be on Main Street Cape Breton at 4:15 pm today to announce something we're pretty excited about! Tune in. :)
05/20/2026

We'll be on Main Street Cape Breton at 4:15 pm today to announce something we're pretty excited about! Tune in. :)

Fun fact: That pterosaur was 8 months pregnant! (Now that's dedication!) We'll see you again May 31st at the MS Walk Cap...
05/19/2026

Fun fact: That pterosaur was 8 months pregnant! (Now that's dedication!) We'll see you again May 31st at the MS Walk Cape Breton year.

One of the hardest things to do as a museum Curator is to let go of material. Deaccessioning—the formal process of remov...
05/19/2026

One of the hardest things to do as a museum Curator is to let go of material. Deaccessioning—the formal process of removing items from a collection—is a necessary part of museum life as storage space fills up, but it's a deeply emotional process!

Over the years, the Fossil Centre accumulated a large number of duplicates and specimens that aren't really scientific grade. With the arrival of the Erwin Zodrow Collection from CBU and many exciting new finds, it's time to say goodbye to some old friends to make room for the new.

On the left is the "discard" pile. On the right, specimens that are good enough to keep for teaching (but not really museum quality).
Believe it or not, this is just from one "overflow" shelf! We have *a lot* of fossils!

What happens to the "discarded" specimens? Some have moved to an outdoor rock garden, some will get a new life in teaching and school visits, and some have been "released" back into the wild, to weather away as they'd have naturally done if we hadn't collected them. [Cue the Lion King soundtrack!]

Is that a fossil donut? A few weeks ago, we had another chance to tour the provincial fossil collections in Halifax to s...
05/16/2026

Is that a fossil donut? A few weeks ago, we had another chance to tour the provincial fossil collections in Halifax to see what Cape Breton material held there might safely make its way back to the island on loan for display. This drawer holds material from Port Hood that is pretty mysterious at first glance. Are those fossil sea anemones? The world's oldest Humpty Dumpty Sour Cream & Onion Rings?

Nope! They're the vertebrae from a nasty ancient reptile-like animal called an embolomere. These semi-aquatic animals looked something like a stretched-out crocodile, with long eel-like bodies and sharp needle-like teeth. They are most obviously recognized by their vertebrae, which, as you can see in the photo, are made up of sets of simple interlocking 'rings' (the intercentrum and pleurocentrum).

Fossils of embolomeres occur at several sites on the island, including at Point Edward, where skulls are known. These particular fossils were found near Port Hood in 1959. Next time you hike around the area, keep an eye out for more little fossil donuts. You might have found something important!

We found this odd looking fossil recently while checking on a site near a Creignish. While it looks strikingly like a sp...
05/12/2026

We found this odd looking fossil recently while checking on a site near a Creignish. While it looks strikingly like a spine (we got pretty excited for a moment!), it's actually most likely a part of the extinct giant horsetail Calamites (or a relative), according to two colleagues we called in for a second opinion.

We also had a strong sense of deja vu and could have *sworn* we'd seen a similar one previously. A search through our Google Photos confirmed why it looked so familiar: we found the exact same specimen 3 years ago!

While weathering normally destroys fossils, in this case the years have been very kind to it. Removal of material by rain and tides has actually exposed more of the fossil. The left image shows what it looks like today, and the right one what it looked like in 2024!

Address

159 Legatto Street
Sydney Mines, NS
B1V5S6

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+1 902-544-0992

Website

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/sydney-mines-community-heritage-society

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