Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

B.C. town stumped over four-toed footprint in rock

 Four-toed indentation in boulder found in B.C.

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Four-toed indentation in boulder found in B.C. (CNS NEIL & EARLENE BITTERMAN)

VANCOUVER -- A mystery's afoot after a northeastern B.C. resident found what looks like a four-toed footprint embedded in a rock.

Neil Bitterman found the watermelon-sized rock while mowing his lawn in Hudson's Hope, about 1,000 kilometres north of Vancouver.

Before tossing it, he noticed odd toe-like indentations.

"My size-10 foot fits in there perfectly," said bitterman.

"It has caused quite a stir in the community," said his wife, Earlene.

The Bittermans have sent photos to paleontologists in Canada and the U.S. and to online fossil forums, noting their small town of 1,100 people is a hotbed of paleontology and home to many marine reptile fossils and dinosaur footprints.

Dr. Don Brinkman, of Alberta's Royal Tyrrell Museum, said in an e-mail via the museum's public-relations department that the rock is likely a pseudofossil, something that looks like a fossil but isn't.

He referred questions to Richard McCrea, a paleontologist with the Peace River Paleontology Research Centre, who specializes in footprints.

If it turns out not to be a significant find, the Bittermans will be happy to keep it in their home.

"It would be quite a conversation piece," Neil Bitterman said.

-- Canwest News Service

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 6, 2009 A7

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