Craig Scott specializes in research on Palaeocene age mammals (65 – 55 million years ago) from the Red Deer and Calgary areas. His fieldwork has focused exclusively on Late Cretaceous and Palaeocene rock deposits from Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. His primary research focus is how mammal communities in North America changed from the Late Cretaceous through the Palaeocene in Alberta, as well as how mammal communities at higher latitudes differ from those farther south. Craig is particularly interested in the early history of primates and multituberculates (rodent-like mammals).
Research Interests
- Late Cretaceous and Palaeocene mammals from about 84 – 55 million years ago.
- Fossil mammals from Alberta and Saskatchewan.
- Early history of primates in western Canada.
- Multituberculates.
- The evolution of mammals during the end of the Age of Dinosaurs and the beginning of the Age of Mammals.
- The distribution of fossil mammals and their ecosystems across western Canada.
Professional Highlights
- Discovered the most productive and diverse—and earliest—Palaeocene fossil mammal locality in Alberta.
- Discovered the first fossil mammals from rocks immediately above the K/Pg boundary in Alberta.
- Published several papers on some of the earliest primates from Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan.
Education
Ph.D., University of Alberta, 2008
M.Sc., University of Alberta, 2001
B.Sc., University of Alberta, 1995
- Recent Publications
Janis, C.M., Martín-Serra, A., Theodor, J.M., and Scott, C.S. 2025. Down to earth: Therian mammals became more terrestrial towards the end of the Cretaceous. Palaeontology, 62: e70004. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.70004
Scott, C.S. 2024. First taeniodonts (Mammalia, Taeniodonta) from the Paleocene of Canada. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 43: 6, e2370535. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2024.2370535
Ashbaugh, A.J., Scott, C.S., Mantilla, G.P.W., and Theodor, J.M. 2024. Species discrimination in the multituberculate Mesodma Jepsen, 1940 (Mammalia, Allotheria): Considerations of size, shape, and form. Journal of Paleontology 97: 1282–1292. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2023.76
Scott, C.S., López-Torres, S., Silcox, M.T., and Fox, R.C. 2023. New paromomyids (Mammalia, Primates) from the Paleocene of southwestern Alberta, Canada, and an analysis of paromomyid interrelationships. Journal of Paleontology 97: 477–498. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2022.103
Scott, C.S. 2021. First mammal from the Willow Creek Formation: A new early Paleocene ptilodontid (Mammalia, Multituberculata) from near Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 58: 505–518. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2020-0151
Montellano-Ballesteros, M., Fox, R.C., and Scott, C.S. 2021. A new, “dwarfed” species of the phenacodontid “condylarth” Ectocion from the late Paleocene of Alberta, Canada, and its implications. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 58: 1155–1169. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2019-0234
Fox, R.C. and Scott, C.S. 2020. Bisonalveus gracilis n. sp. (Pentacodontidae; Cimolesta): Novel dental adaptations and their paleobiological implications in a small Paleocene mammal. Palaeontographica Abt. A. 315: 67–119. https://doi.org/10.1127/pala/2020/0087
Contact
Email: craig.scott@gov.ab.ca
For media inquiries:
Marketing & Public Relations
Ashley Makohoniuk
ashley.makohoniuk@gov.ab.ca