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Walk
on the Wild Side: Explore Your Public Lands |
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Paleopuzzles Would you like to follow in the footsteps of a dinosaur? Well, there are places on BLM lands where you can do just that. You won't find any living dinosaurs, of course. They died out long before any humans came along. But you might find fossils of dinosaur bones or tracks. If you do, please leave them in place. But tell someone, because scientists would really like to know about your discovery. That's because fossils are not so easy to find. Fossil formation is a chancy process (see box below). Even so, a large number of fossils have been found on BLM lands. In fact, many of the fossils in American museums came from public lands. Fossils belong to all of us, and they can tell us a great deal about ancient climates and landscapes. Did you know, for example, that a shallow ocean once covered large parts of BLM lands in the West? How do we know? From fossils of sea creatures that have been found there. Fossils are the best clues we have as to how life developed on Earth. And that's why it's so important to protect these ancient treasures.
Activity Boneyard Mystery Scientists called paleontologists study fossils. The fossils they find are often all mixed up. There might be bones from several different dinosaurs scattered around a particular site, for instance. Or scientists might find only a few fossilized bones with no trace of the remaining animal. They hardly ever find a complete dinosaur skeleton.
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But
you're in luck! Paleontologists have sorted through the bones here and
put together a dinosaur skeleton. Now it's up to you to figure out what
kind of dinosaur it is. Examine the bones and compare them to the drawings
of the dinosaurs below. Which one do you think it is? Pay close attention
to the skull, the leg bones, and the tail. If you need another hint, check
the information about dinosaur hips in the box at right. 
