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National Fossil Day In South Dakota

Courtesy SDSM&T

It’s National Fossil Day. The National Park Service set aside this day in 2009.  The annual celebration is focused on promoting public awareness and stewardship of fossils, as well as fostering a greater appreciation for their scientific and educational value.

 

Badlands National Park is known for its eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires. But Education Technician Ed Welsh says the area has a significant paleontological history.

Credit Courtesy National Park Service
Skull of an Oreodont. The even-toed hoofed mammals are the closest relatives to camels and one of the most common animals found in South Dakota’s Badlands.

“There’s two time-frames we represent here at Badlands,” notes Welsh. “We cover some time from near the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. But we don’t find any dinosaurs here. We’re actually underwater…part of a seaway here. So everything from the age of dinosaurs we find is aquatic life. Things like squid or sharks. Big marine reptiles like Mosasaurs.”

Welsh explains that The Badlands themselves represent the very middle of the Age of Mammals.

“Halfway between now and when the dinosaurs went extinct, ” Welsh adds “So…rhinoceroses…camels. We get some of the oldest dogs in the fossil record here. We get these saber-toothed cat-like animals called nimravids.” 

Credit Courtesy SDSM&T
This Triceratops skull excavated in 1927 and on exhibit at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Museum of Geology is the state fossil of South Dakota.

The public is invited to Badlands National Park today to learn about these mammals and aquatic life through their fossilized remains. Park personnel are also conducting long distance learning sessions about these fossils with schools from across the country.

One local school that’s known for its fossil collection is the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Sally Shelton is the school’s Museum of Geology associate director. She says fossils are the only way we have of literally touching the past.

“And that’s what gives us a window into things such as climate change…geological change…such as which organisms have survived and which have not,” Shelton comments. “And which help us to put a picture of how life on Earth has progressed in the past and what that might tell us about survival today and surviving into the future.”

Shelton says if you’d like to conduct your own investigation into the deep past students from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology are available this Saturday to help identify fossils for the public – from turtle shells to bezoars. 

Note: 

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology geology and paleontology students are scheduled to be at the school's Museum of Geology on Saturday, October 15, 2016 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the SDSM&T Rock and Fossil I.D. Day. The public is welcome ot bring rocks and fossils to the gathering for free examination and identification.  

The Mammoth Site - in Hot Springs – will celebrate National Fossil Day on Wednesday, October 12, 2016 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with activities for children and adults including:   Storytime in the Bonehut at 11:30 a.m.;  Scavenger Hunt - available all day;  Prehistoric Road Show 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.;   Classroom stations from 9:30 a.m. to Noon;  Mini Screenpicking Station;  Fossil Impression Station;  Fossil Prep Station and a lecture at 1:00 p.m.  All activities are free with paid admission. The Mammoth Site will be open from 9:00 to 5:00 p.m. with the last tour at 4:00 p.m.

Related links:

Badlands National Park 

https://www.nps.gov/badl/index.htm

South Dakota School of Mines & Technology 

http://www.sdsmt.edu/
 
 
The Mammoth Site
 

http://mammothsite.com/