Missouri Dinosaurs Get National Attention - There haven't been many dinosaurs in Missouri. Because of its unique location and geological formations, most fossilized specimens in the state are smaller and older water creatures such as Trilobites. Many fossils include shells and also shallow water plants.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports a new Discovery Channel show entitled "Prehistoric Chicago" delves into whether or not dinosaurs would have been prevalent in that part of the United States. One story includes looking into Missouri's one and only true dinosaur find in the Bootheel.
Missouri Dinosaurs Get National Attention
The show speculates what prehistoric life would have been like in the midsection of the United States before the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. The show is nothing new to scientists. They know dinosaur fossils have been found on every continent including Antarctica. But dinosaur finds in the Midwest are not as common.
A Hadrosaur species known as Hypsibema missouriense was discovered in 1942 when local residents near Glen Allen, Mo., were digging a well in clay formations. The farmers discovered strange hardened bones and a visiting scientist investigated.
Upon further inspection by geologist Dan Stewart, the mysterious bones were identified as a plant-eating dinosaur with a duck bill-like structure for its mouth. The Smithsonian bought the bones for $50 and at the time they determined the bones to be a new herbivore species.
Paleontologists studied the bones in the 1970s and determined they were from a previously known species in North Carolina. The name stuck because they were found in different locations. The Bollinger County Museum of Natural History still has replicas of bone fragments. The Hadrosaur is also the official State Dinosaur.
Later digs at the same site have yielded two other dinosaur species--one related to Tyrannosaurus rex and another species similar to a Velociraptor. More Hadrosaurs were also uncovered.
In the grand scheme of things, Missouri's geologic past isn't as well-known for dinosaurs as it is for older fossils and shells. Once volcanically active and part of a shallow inland sea, Missouri's prehistory was teeming with life. Just because fossils don't exist doesn't mean dinosaurs weren't in Missouri.
Fossils are rare in Missouri because the geology of the area doesn't lend fossil formation. Seeping water and Ice Age erosion have worn away rocks in various parts of the state. Ancient volcanoes would have destroyed and melted any evidence of life. The site in the Bootheel rested near the flood plain of the Mississippi River and would have allowed for the process of fossilization to occur and be preserved as layers of sediment covered bones for millions of years ( news.yahoo.com )
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports a new Discovery Channel show entitled "Prehistoric Chicago" delves into whether or not dinosaurs would have been prevalent in that part of the United States. One story includes looking into Missouri's one and only true dinosaur find in the Bootheel.
Missouri Dinosaurs Get National Attention
The show speculates what prehistoric life would have been like in the midsection of the United States before the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. The show is nothing new to scientists. They know dinosaur fossils have been found on every continent including Antarctica. But dinosaur finds in the Midwest are not as common.
A Hadrosaur species known as Hypsibema missouriense was discovered in 1942 when local residents near Glen Allen, Mo., were digging a well in clay formations. The farmers discovered strange hardened bones and a visiting scientist investigated.
Upon further inspection by geologist Dan Stewart, the mysterious bones were identified as a plant-eating dinosaur with a duck bill-like structure for its mouth. The Smithsonian bought the bones for $50 and at the time they determined the bones to be a new herbivore species.
Paleontologists studied the bones in the 1970s and determined they were from a previously known species in North Carolina. The name stuck because they were found in different locations. The Bollinger County Museum of Natural History still has replicas of bone fragments. The Hadrosaur is also the official State Dinosaur.
Later digs at the same site have yielded two other dinosaur species--one related to Tyrannosaurus rex and another species similar to a Velociraptor. More Hadrosaurs were also uncovered.
In the grand scheme of things, Missouri's geologic past isn't as well-known for dinosaurs as it is for older fossils and shells. Once volcanically active and part of a shallow inland sea, Missouri's prehistory was teeming with life. Just because fossils don't exist doesn't mean dinosaurs weren't in Missouri.
Fossils are rare in Missouri because the geology of the area doesn't lend fossil formation. Seeping water and Ice Age erosion have worn away rocks in various parts of the state. Ancient volcanoes would have destroyed and melted any evidence of life. The site in the Bootheel rested near the flood plain of the Mississippi River and would have allowed for the process of fossilization to occur and be preserved as layers of sediment covered bones for millions of years ( news.yahoo.com )
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