ENTERPRISE - A hundred million years ago or more, it seems a dinosaur was walking in soft sand just south of what is now Enterprise.

These circular impressions along the Hay River, south of Enterprise, are believed to be dinosaur footprints. - photo courtesy of Richard Lafferty

And based on a row of circular impressions in rock along the edge of the Hay River, the dinosaur's footprints have survived the ages.

By looking at photographs of the impressions in the rock, Donald Henderson, the curator of dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta, said he is "confident" they are real dinosaur footprints.

Richard Lafferty, originally from Behchoko, spotted the prehistoric tracks on Aug. 15 just above Alexandra Falls in Twin Falls Gorge Territorial Park.

"It was just there," he said of the footprints.

Lafferty sent photographs to the Royal Tyrrell Museum – which is world-renowned for its dinosaur exhibits – to seek an expert opinion.

Henderson said, as far as he is aware, the Hay River discovery is the first time dinosaur footprints have been found in the NWT, and as such they are an important find.

"No one has ever reported them from that part of the world before," he said.

Lafferty, who lives in Grande Prairie, Alta., said he had previously seen dinosaur footprints in solid rock in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. and that helped him spot the Hay River tracks.

"It clicked in – hey, this could be one," he said.

Lafferty said there are about a half-dozen circular footprints – about 8-10 inches across –and he recognized them as tracks because the pattern indicated an animal walking.

"I just knew it was some kind of prints," he said.

Some of the tracks are filled with water and others with broken rock.

Henderson said the tracks were most likely made by a type of four-legged, armoured dinosaur known as an ankylosaur, but they could also have been made by a small sauropod – one of the long-necked dinosaurs.

While the vast majority of rocks on the south shore of Great Slave Lake are much older than the time of the dinosaurs, Henderson said there are slivers of dinosaur-age rocks from 121-99 million years ago in the area.

He said the impressions in the rock are parallel, have the right spacing and show left/right prints.

"These three things tell me these are legit dinosaur tracks," he said. "They're just too regular to be random things."

Lafferty, who works with Tlicho Logistics as supervisor of site services at Diavik diamond mine, said he thought the tracks might be important when he spotted them, especially since there were no signs pointing to the footprints.

There are no signs because the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI), which operates Twin Falls Gorge Territorial Park, did not know the prints were there.

"That's definitely news for us," said Tom Colosimo, the department's manager of tourism and parks in the South Slave. Colosimo said he will take a close look at the impressions in the rock.

If they turn out to definitely be dinosaur footprints, ITI will likely consider ways to protect them, he said. Publicizing the finding for tourism potential would also be considered, Colosimo said.

"Obviously, that has interest for people," he said, noting the find is great news for the park.

Lafferty has concerns about the tracks, noting it looks like the riverbank is breaking apart and could even be affected by ice during spring break-up.

"I'd like to see it preserved where it is," he said of the footprints.

The probable tracks are only several feet above the water on a rocky ledge.

Henderson said the prints appear pretty rough and may not be worth cutting out of the rock, but he warns they will eventually wear away, considering erosion and ice in the river.

"Erosion never takes a day off," he said.

The dinosaur expert suggested the footprints should be photographed, measured and documented, including taking latex impressions called peels.

"I think a record needs to be made of it," he said.

Scientists believe dinosaurs roamed all over North and South America, and there have been dinosaur bones found on Axel Heiberg Island and Ellesmere Island, according to Henderson.

However, much of Northern Canada was under glaciers at various times that destroyed virtually all signs of dinosaurs, he said.

"Most of the dinosaur age rock has been scraped away."

Henderson said there are some dinosaur footprints in Alaska and many in the Peace River region.

John Alexander, a well-known amateur dinosaur enthusiast in Yellowknife, said he is not aware of any other dinosaur footprints in the NWT.

"It would be a hell of a find," he said of the Hay River discovery.

Like Henderson, Alexander said most evidence of dinosaurs in the North was destroyed by glaciers during the ice ages.

All the dinosaur bones discovered in the NWT and Nunavut could be put in just one box, he said.

"So little has been found."