Dinosaurs.

If you have never been to the Royal Tyrrell Museum outside of Drumheller, you really should go. Situated in the badlands of southern Alberta, and devoted entirely to paleontology, it is a dinosaur lovers dream.

Black Beauty replica.

The badlands of Alberta produce a seemingly astonishing number of fossils. (I say 'seemingly' because there isn't really a greater number of fossils here compared to anywhere else... it's just the erosion of the rocks greatly increases your chances of actually finding them.)

Typical "badlands". Sometimes bones literally fall out of the hills.

Fossils are uncommon because the circumstances that lead to their formation tend to be uncommon. In order for an organism to turn into a fossil, it needs to be covered in sediments very quickly, which usually involves ending up at the bottom of a lake or in a tar pit. This needs to happen in an area where the remains will not be disturbed (you won't get much in the way of fossilized remains if scavengers carry off all the parts or they get washed away) and, depending on the type of fossil, in an environment where decay happens very slowly, or not at all.

 

Over time, this ichthyosaur soaked up oil bubbling up from the ground, and

 the oil is now seeping out of its tail. How Albertan. 

Millions of years ago, Alberta was at the bottom of an inland ocean. (It has actually been submerged several times, leading to fossils from all different time periods like the Cambrian Burgess Shale and the Triassic dinosaurs.) This ocean contributed to the large amount of sedimentary rock in the area, and, along with lots of time and several glaciers, helped turn Alberta into the fertile, fossil-filled prairie it is today.

For more info on the Royal Tyrrell Museum... click here.