
Artistic recreation of the Podokesaurus holyokensis based on figures in original description and skeletal diagrams of the related Coelophysis, such as in the 2016 book The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs by Gregory S. Paul
Artistic recreation of the Podokesaurus holyokensis based on figures in original description and skeletal diagrams of the related Coelophysis, such as in the 2016 book The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs by Gregory S. Paul
What was the process for choosing the new state dinosaur?
Rep. Jack Lewis polled local paleontologists, including me, and we came up with two possible candidates, Podokesaurus holyokensis and Anchisaurus polyzelus. He then had a big vote online that everyone could participate in and to get kids interested—that’s all been a lot of fun, and educational too. Each candidate had certain advantages and, of course, some disadvantages, but Podokesaurus won, and I personally think it was the better of the two choices.
Where can people find local tracks or fossils?
In this area, the main fossils we find are tracks. Actual fossilized bones are rare in Massachusetts. The best place for people to see tracks locally is the area off of Route 5 in Holyoke. It belongs to the Trustees of Reservations, so it is open to the public. When I was teaching my vertebrate paleontology course, we would take a field trip there to collect data on the trackways, then use formulas to see how fast the dinosaurs might have been moving. There is also Dinoland in South Hadley, owned by the Nash family.
Share your most intriguing nooks, niches, coordinates, or curiosities on campus or anywhere in the region. Email magazine@umass.edu and we’ll investigate!