Did you know that fifteen states (and Washington D.C.) have an official dinosaur?
And did you know that I was ENRAGED to find out that Ohio doesn't have one?
Well, at least until I saw the typical criteria for nominating a state dinosaur.
As it goes, the typical process is that a state's official dinosaur is tied to a major discovery that takes place within the state. For instance, the Triceratops horridus was originally found in Wyoming, and therefore it became the state's official dinosaur in 1994.
All that being said... who cares? Ohio should just have a state dinosaur anyway. None of the current states have claimed the Tyrannosaurus Rex as their state dinosaur. Montana, which has been a hotbed of T. Rex discoveries over the years, hasn't even claimed the T. Rex as its official state dinosaur (Montana still doesn't have one at all), so I say Ohio jumps on it now.
This is pretty much Ohio's only way to snag an official state dinosaur. To date, no dinosaur bones have ever been found in the state; due to the high sea level of the Mesozoic Era, it caused intense erosion that washed away the rock layers needed to preserve dinosaur bones, footprints, and eggs.
We just need some brave Ohio paleontologists to stand up and make this happen.
The Current List of Official State Dinosaurs
- Arizona:
Sonorasaurus thompsoni
- Arkansas: Arkansaurus fridayi
- California: Augustynolophus morrisi
- Connecticut: Dilophosaurus sp.
- Delaware: Dryptosaurus aquilunguis
- District of Columbia: Capitalsaurus
- Idaho: Oryctodromeus cubicularis
- Massachusetts: Podokesaurus holyokensis
- Maryland: Astrodon johnstoni
- Missouri: Parrosaurus missouriensis
- New Jersey: Hadrosaurus foulkii
- Oklahoma: Acrocanthosaurus atokensis
- Texas: Sauroposeidon proteles
- Utah: Utahraptor ostrommaysorum
- Washington: Suciasaurus rex
- Wyoming: Triceratops horridus
All Is Not Lost — Ohio Does Have a State Fossil
Far more states have an official fossil — 44 states to be exact. And three states even have two official fossils, including Ohio!
Ohio has attempted to make up for its lack of a state dinosaur by introducing two official fossils, the Isotelus maximus trilobite and the Dunkleosteus terrelli, a fish that was one of the first vertebrate apex predators of any ecosystem. Dunkleosteus was a menace of the Late Devonian Period, some 360 million years ago, back when Ohio was actually located south of the equator.
The first Dunkleosteus fossils were discovered in 1867 by amateur fossil collector Jay Terrell along Lake Erie, and today, you can learn a ton about this giant armored fish — and check out some fossils — at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
And if state gemstones are more your thing, Ohio's official gemstone is flint (the state does not have an official mineral or rock/stone).
