Page 42 - 2007 DT 12 Issues

Bone-up! or erased, except in western North the last few million years in their
America. Paleontologist Jack Horn- reign of terror.
ixty-five million years ago, er, possibly the world’s most noted Lucky for us, getting to some of
the largest creatures ever to dinosaur expert, points out that to the most fascinating excavation sites
Swalk the earth vanished. No have a chance of finding dino fossils, is relatively easy. A car (best with
matter what finally killed them off, special conditions must prevail. The dirt-road capability), map, compass
their passing has left us humans a bones must have been deposited and and guidebook are all that’s needed
treasure trove of fossils to gawk at. preserved (a rare occurrence), and for a week or more of adventure
Pack the kids in the car for that sum- they have to be accessible. In the amidst the bones. Take your pick of
mer vacation and set off to see the badlands of North America, fossil spots, from real-time fossil-works to
lizards in the badlands of the great bearing rocks of just the right age quick and easy halls of science.
North American West! Few places on are well exposed in a number of Gabbs, Nev. (Hwy. 361) is 55
earth can boast such rich deposits of places. It takes back-breaking work miles northeast of Hawthorne and
well-preserved “dino” remains. and patience, however, to chip away home to Berlin-Ichthyosaur State
Park, 23 miles east off State
Route 844. The park comes
complete with a quarry where
you can see what was swimming
around in Nevada before it was
Nevada. Roughly 220 million
years ago, the terrain was under
a shallow sea where Ichthyosaurs
frolicked. These marine reptiles
ran to over 50 ft. long and gave
mounted Ichthyosaur skeleton us our state fossil. Go to www.
parks.nv.gov/bi.htm before
From northern Nevada through the rock matrix and unveil the prize you leave.
Utah and much of western Canada, without damaging it. Utah hit the fossil jackpot, with a
the bones, teeth and fossilized eggs Contrary to the prevailing view of wealth of rich sites to explore. From
of these almost-mythical giants have dinosaurs up to the 1970s, they were Las Vegas, the easiest to reach is the
been coming to light in eroding not the slow, lumbering, dim-witted St. George Dinosaur Discovery
hillsides, mesas, washes and cliffs creatures depicted in natural history Site at Johnson Farm, where you
throughout the desert landscape for books. Fossil finds have re-written can see thousands of fantastic and
a few million years. It is difficult the history of these animals, rec- well-preserved dino footprints, hide
to grasp their sheer size and bulk ognizing the possibility that some
until you’ve stood beside a massive species were warm blooded preda- prints and other goodies. Check it out
sauropod thigh bone entombed in tors, blindingly quick and equipped at www.dinotrax.com.
the rock-face—small wonder that with lethal weapons. However, even The Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur
dinosaurs ruled the planet from end- cold-blooded, vegetarian grazers Quarry in Price, Utah holds some
to-end for 160 million years. were not lethargic or incapacitated of the densest concentrations of
Although these “terrible lizards” for lack of heat. Many dino species Jurassic dinosaur bones ever found,
thundered over every corner of the experienced extinctions throughout and an unusually large proportion
earth in their day, the record of the Mesozoic Era, however, the rich- of predators to prey. Go to www.
their lives has been mostly buried est fossil deposits represent mainly blm.gov/utah/price/quarry.htm for

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