New Jersey Find Instrumental in Research

hen we think of dinosaurs, most of us think of any one of those pictured, or thanks to many film and television productions, the always fiercely depicted T-Rex. Why then, did the State of NJ pass legislation naming the Hadrosaurus foulkii the Official State Dinosaur on June 13, 1991?

To find the answer we have to venture back in time over 130 years prior, to Haddonfield in 1858. There, buried in a marl¹ pit, a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences, William Parke Foulke, found a nearly complete dinosaur skeleton. Not just a skeleton, but the first basically complete one ever found in the world.

This discovery changed the basic premises held about the physical attributes of dinosaurs, leading to renewed interest by the scientific community and piquing the interest of the general public for the first time. The reconstructed skeleton was seen by countless visitors during its public exhibition from the 1870s through the 1940s. Shortly before this legislation was passed, the skeleton was reintroduced as a permanent exhibit in Philadelphia at the very same Academy of Natural Sciences involved in the original unearthing.

There you have it, a perfectly logical reason for selecting this special dinosaur as the official state symbol. Luckily for "Hadro," the motion picture blockbuster, Jurassic Park, wasn't released until a couple of years later - perhaps the legislature would have been unfairly influenced into another choice!

Fossils, though not usually of the size of the Hadrosaurus foukii, are actually quite common in New Jersey and often found encased in amber² deposits. A 92 million year old tick was found in a vacant lot in the central part of the state and ants of a similar age were discovered in Cliffwood Beach. Sandy Hook has yielded some finds as well, and the Shark River Park is a popular class trip destination for elementary schools.

For more interesting background information and images, please follow the included links. Oh, and next time a movie with a dinosaur theme is released, be sure to stop by Monmouth Mall to see the dinosaur sculptures made out of old car parts by Artist Jim Gary - at least they've been there quite often in the past.

 

¹Loose mixture of clay and seashells.
² Clear or orange rocklike fossil resin.