National Park Service Centennial

Stegosaurus ungulates - a favorite discovery from the Dinosaur National Monument

It's the middle of the summer in the northern hemisphere. Things are really heating up and the "dog days" of August are just around the corner. It's the heart of vacation-time for many people, and there's no better time to pay a visit to a national park, than on this Centennial celebration of the United States National Park System.

All national parks are the U.S. "repository" of special areas that preserve and present nature to the public, and as such are natural guardians of geology, flora and fauna; as well as laboratories for ongoing research by experts across many scientific fields.

And paleontology is well represented. Standing out among all of the parks of the system is Dinosaur National Monument.

It's the only park of its kind in the world where the general public can see so many dinosaur fossils "in situ" - that is, in their natural state of discovery, embedded in the rocks; as well as reconstructed in the park museum. And these include many of the largest, fiercest and most famous dinosaurs of all time, such as Allosaurus, Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, and Stegosaurus.

A must-see mecca for any dino fan, Dinosaur National Monument spans large sections of the states of Utah and Colorado. Comprised of Jurassic rocks of the Morrison Formation, the park preserves the exact location of the legendary "Carnegie Quarry", famous for it's role in the great dinosaur "bone wars" of the early 1900s, and responsible for many of the Jurassic dinosaur specimens still on display in the renowned Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In fact, as one of the world's largest and most important Jurassic Period formations, Dinosaur National Monument is the real-life "Jurassic Park"!

Kudos to The National Park Service for its outstanding work throughout its entire park system, and in particular, for carrying-on the wishes of Carnegie Quarry discoverer Earl Douglass, who intended for fossil discoveries to be put on public display at the original quarry, instead of shipping everything away.

So, on behalf of Jurassic dinosaur fans around the world, The Dinoblog wishes The National Park Service a Happy 100th birthday!!!

Enjoying Dinos

DINOAPP.

Finding Dinos

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Mapping Dinos

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Irish Dinos

This week St. Patrick's Day celebrates Irish culture. And to many dino fans it begs the question, what dinosaurs inhabited Ireland? While England boasts many dinosaur discoveries - including the first dinosaur fossil ever formally described, Ireland seems barren of dinosaurs, despite sharing nearly identical geographical and geological features with neighboring England.

And Ireland does not spring to mind when pondering the realm of dinosaurs.

Mythology tells us St. Patrick dispatched all snakes from Ireland, but makes no claim regarding dinosaurs. Did dinosaurs EVER inhabit the Land of Ire?

In fact, it seems they did! Although not necessarily green in color, dinosaurs are known to have inhabited the Emerald Isle, once upon a time...

Since the Mesozoic dinosaur era, Ireland has been largely underwater. This has contributed to successive deposits of marine sediments, ultimately responsible for the dramatic coastal cliffs seen today, as well as doing a good job of covering the remains of dinosaurs.

However, several locales in Ireland have revealed dino fossils, including the partial remains of a medium-sized Jurassic Period bipedal predator, an early ancestor of larger theropods, such as Tyrannosaurus rex. The most complete skeleton discovered to date is attributed to a heavily armored quadrupedal plant eater, Scelidosaurus, pictured here. Covered nearly head to tail in spikes of various sizes, Scelidosaurus was well-equipped to fend-off attacks from the predators sharing its environment. A bit of Irish luck would have come in handy, as well...

Tyrannosaurus Teeth

Terrifying Works in Progress