Designating a Provincial Fossil

The selection of B.C.’s Provincial fossil supports the principles of the Fossil Management Framework which recognizes fossils as important heritage resources with scientific and educational value. The Elasmosaur was adopted as B.C.'s official fossil on October 26, 2023.

On this page

• Results of the voting process
• Fossil candidates

Government sought input from the public to select a Provincial Fossil as one of the Provincial Symbols of British Columbia.

British Columbia’s list of official symbols and emblems include:

• Pacific Dogwood - adopted as the floral emblem in 1956
• Jade - adopted as official gemstone in 1968
• Steller’s Jay - adopted as official bird in 1987
• Western Red Cedar - adopted as official tree in 1988
• Spirit Bear - adopted as the mammal emblem in 2006
• Pacific Salmon - adopted as the fish emblem in 2013

For more information: 

B.C. Symbols - Province of British Columbia (gov.bc.ca)

B.C.’s new official fossil emblem enriches cultural identity | BC Gov News

Results of the voting process

Fossil candidates

• See the fossil candidate table for more details and images (PDF, 122KB)
• View the map of where the fossil candidates were found in B.C. (PDF, 240KB)
• Read the background information about the provincial fossil voting process (PDF, 43KB)