Darren H. Tanke (born 1960) is a Canadian fossil preparation technician of the Dinosaur Research Program at the

Royal Tyrrell Museum The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology (RTMP, and often referred to as the Royal Tyrrell Museum) is a palaeontology museum and research facility in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. The museum was named in honour of Joseph Burr Tyrrell, and is situ ...

of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta. Born in Calgary, Tanke became interested in natural history at an early age. In 1979, Tanke began working for Philip J. Currie in the paleontology department of the Provincial Museum of Alberta, originally as a volunteer. From 1979 until 2005 (when Dr. Currie left the Tyrrell to become a professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton) Tanke worked as a lab and field technician, a job he still holds today.National Research Council Canada
Retrieved 2009-05-17. At the museum he is a senior technician in the preparation lab. He does not hold any formal post-secondary degrees, but is active in research and numerous writing projects. Senior editor of the 2001 book ''Mesozoic Vertebrate Life: New Research Inspired by the Paleontology of Philip J. Currie'', In 2019 he published his first book on Albertan amateur fossil collector, botanist, artist and historian Hope Johnson in the book: "Now There Was a Lady" - Hope Johnson LL.D. 1916-2010", published through the Alberta Palaeontological Society. Tanke appeared in the 1998

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

''Dinosaur Park'', and the 1993 educational film ''Messages in Stone''. He recently appeared in one episode of Dino Hunt Canada (2015) and an episode of ABC Television's "Born to Explore" (2015).

Lab and field work

Tanke has authored papers on

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s and dinosaur

paleopathology Paleopathology, also spelled palaeopathology, is the study of ancient diseases and injuries in organisms through the examination of fossils, mummified tissue, skeletal remains, and analysis of coprolites. Specific sources in the study of anci ...

; his recent work includes preparation of '' Pachyrhinosaurus''

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s. He worked on a large monograph describing a new

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

(''Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai''), with senior co-authors Philip J. Currie and Wann Langston, Jr. Most of the material described therein was prepared by him. This monograph, 21+ years in the making, was released at Grande Prairie Regional College on October 1, 2008. This publication describes skull material from the extremely rich Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai bonebed on Pipestone Creek, southwest of

Grande Prairie Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway), a ...

, Alberta, Canada. Also with this publication are two other papers, one describing the site taphonomy and quarry map and another paper describing the endocast and brain structure of ''P. lakustai''. Tanke has also authored papers on

Tyrannosaurus ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosa ...

Daspletosaurus ''Daspletosaurus'' ( ; meaning "frightful lizard") is a genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur that lived in Laramidia between about 79.5 and 74 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period. The genus ''Daspletosaurus'' contains three spec ...

Styracosaurus ''Styracosaurus'' ( ; meaning "spiked lizard" from the Ancient Greek / "spike at the butt-end of a spear-shaft" and / "lizard") is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period (Campanian stage), about 75.5 to 74.5 ...

, Chasmosaurus,

Stegoceras ''Stegoceras'' is a genus of pachycephalosaurid (dome-headed) dinosaur that lived in what is now North America during the Late Cretaceous period, about 77.5 to 74 million years ago (mya). The first specimens from Alberta, Canada, were descri ...

Centrosaurus ''Centrosaurus'' ( ; ) is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Canada. Their remains have been found in the Dinosaur Park Formation, dating from 76.5 to 75.5 million years ago. Discovery and naming The firs ...

Eoceratops ''Chasmosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of ceratopsid dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Period of North America. Its name means 'opening lizard', referring to the large openings (fenestrae) in its frill ( Greek ''chasma'' meaning 'opening' or 'hollo ...

'', and various other

hadrosaurid Hadrosaurids (), or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod family, which inclu ...

ceratopsian Ceratopsia or Ceratopia ( or ; Ancient Greek, Greek: "horned faces") is a group of herbivore, herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Europe, and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period (geology), Period, although anc ...

s, and tyrannosaurids. Tanke is presently the longest serving employee (41 years) with the

. On August 7, 2008 at the 33rd International Geological Congress meetings in Oslo, Norway, he was made a member of INHIGEO (International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences) and is now the Canadian editor for that organization. He is also a member of the PSP (Paleontological Society of the Peace; Grande Prairie, Alberta) and the APS (Alberta Palaeontological Society), where he regularly gives oral and poster presentations at their annual symposia in Calgary. The Cenomanian (early Late Cretaceous) marine bird Pasquiaornis tankei (Tokaryk, Cumbaa and Storer, 1997) from Carrot River, Saskatchewan, Canada was named in Tanke's honor. Another fossil species named after him is the Late Cretaceous louse Cretolepinotus tankei found in amber. He also discovered the type specimen of the Late Cretaceous pachycephalosaurid dinosaur Texacephale langstoni. Darren Tanke has a number of jobs at Tyrrell, including fossil preparation, moulding and casting (in previous years), giving talks to the public or identifying fossils the public brings in for identification. In the field, he looks for, identifies, and collects fossils as well as training and supervising summer field staff and preparation laboratory volunteers. Tanke is interested in technical applications to dinosaur site preservation using quarry stakes (on-site metal markers embedded in concrete); GPS and historical information and garbage to relocate lost quarries (some dating back to 1913) using historical archaeology techniques. He is also interested in dinosaur

, dinosaur

ontogeny Ontogeny (also ontogenesis) is the origination and development of an organism (both physical and psychological, e.g., moral development), usually from the time of fertilization of the egg to adult. The term can also be used to refer to the s ...

, and all aspects of horned dinosaurs. He has been heavily involved in the paleontological activities in the

region since 1983. Much of his recent research focuses on various aspects of Alberta's early human history of paleontological discoveries and research in the province. These include biographies of some of the lesser-known paleontology workers in the province, relocating "lost" fossil specimens, the World War I sinking of the merchant ship

SS Mount Temple ''Mount Temple'' was a passenger cargo steamship built in 1901 by Armstrong Whitworth & Company of Newcastle for Elder, Dempster & Co Ltd of Liverpool to operate as part of its Beaver Line. The ship was shortly afterwards acquired by the Canadi ...

and her Albertan dinosaur cargo, etc. He has worked in the field across western Canada and in Montana (1982), Utah (1997), and Texas (2008), mostly in middle and especially Late Cretaceous beds. Overseas fieldwork or history-based research has taken him to Australia (1991), Argentina (2000), China (2005), England (2005, 2008, 2009), France (2001), Mongolia (2005), and Norway (2005). He has also done fieldwork in British Columbia (1985) and Saskatchewan (1985). He set up an annual ceratopsian (horned dinosaur) research scholarship for University-level students or academics under the Dinosaur Research Institute in Calgary, with whom he was formerly on the board of Directors (2008-2022). $1500.00 CDN is awarded each year, the winner notified in May. Tanke now administrates the scholarship through the Facebook page "Darren H. Tanke Neoceratopsian Scholarship". His current lab work involves preparation of varied Albertan hadrosaur and ceratopsian specimens for Dr. Caleb Brown of the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Current research and writing projects include several articles on the use of helicopters in Alberta to collect fossils and lift heavy dinosaur skeletons in their plaster field jackets; relocation of a lost (1914) ''

Basilemys ''Basilemys'' () is a large, terrestrial trionychoid turtle from the Upper Cretaceous. In Greek, the word "Basil" means royal or kingly and the word "Emys" means turtle. Therefore, ''Basilemys'' means King Turtle. ''Basilemys'' has been found in r ...

'' turtle quarry and other fossil turtle sites in

Dinosaur Provincial Park Dinosaur Provincial Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site situated a two hour drive east of Calgary, Alberta, Canada; or , about a half-hour drive northeast of Brooks. The park is situated in the Red Deer River valley, which is noted for its stri ...

; and biographies of Albertan amateur fossil collector and artist Hope Johnson (1916–2010) and Jane Colwell-Danis (1941-), Canada's first formally-trained woman vertebrate paleontologist. Dozens of other writing projects on widely varying aspects of vertebrate paleontology and paleontology history are in various stages of completeness. Two of these are detailed histories of hadrosaur collection and research in Alberta, and a detailed 25+ year chronological history of the

in Drumheller, Alberta. Another project, done in his own time, was the 2010 reenactment of the 1910-1916 paleontological expeditions who used large flat-bottomed boats or scows in their search for Late Cretaceous dinosaur bones on the Red Deer River, Alberta, Canada. The project ran into medical and technical difficulties in 2010. Efforts were made to get the scow ready to refloat down the river in 2016, but water levels were too low to launch.

References

External links

The SS Mount Temple Project: Dinosaurs in the Deep

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanke, Darren Canadian paleontologists People from Drumheller Paleopathologists Living people 1960 births Paleontology in Alberta