It’s OFFICIAL – Podokesaurus is the Massachusetts State Dinosaur!

 


Restoration of Podokesaurus holyokensis.  – art by FunkMonk (Michael B. H.) – 
Based on figures in original description[1] and skeletal diagrams of the related Coelophysis, such as in the 2016 book The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs by Gregory S. Paul. Creative Commons – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0

 Hooray!  The Mass State Dinosaur bill has passed the state legislature, and was just signed by the Governor on 5/2/22.   Stay tuned for updates and/or celebration details. 

Welcome to the future home of the Massachusetts State Dinosaur!

In February 2021, MA lawmakers filed a bill to designate a state dinosaur for Massachusetts. The proposed bill is currently making its ways through the legislative process. Here, you can learn more about the proposed dinosaur, the Podokesaurus Holyokensis and the process for making a law.

Join our mailing list! Please join our mailing list to get updates on the billing process (must be 13 years or older to sign up; children make sure you have your parent/guardian’s permission to sign up):

    We will not use your personal information for any other purpose than to contact you about the State Dinosaur Website and its related activities.  

    Note that while this initiative was started as a Massachusetts State legislative initiative, this site is in no way affiliated with the government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  For information about our privacy policy, see more here

    3D VRML MODEL OF THE STATE DINOSAUR — Here’s a small teaser of the cool content we’ll be posting on this site in the near future.  Check out this 3D VRML file of the ACTUAL original state dinosaur Podokesaurus cast, discovered in the early 1900’s by a female paleontologist named Dr. Mignon Talbot in Western Massachusetts (please note: this 3D model is big and can take a few seconds to a few tens of seconds to load up — PLEASE BE PATIENT for it to load, thank you!).  Be sure to use the controls on top to expand the model and play with it full screen:

    Loading file
    • Fullscreen
    • Wireframe
    • Zoom In
    • Zoom Out
    • Rotation
    • Screenshot
    • Help

    Controls

    ×
    • Rotate with the left mouse button.
    • Zoom with the scroll button.
    • Adjust camera position with the right mouse button.
    • Double-click to enter the fullscreen mode.
    • On mobile devices swipe to rotate.
    • On mobile devices pinch two fingers together or apart to adjust zoom.
    • On mobile devices 3 finger horizontal swipe performs panning.
    • On mobile devices 3 finger horizontal swipe performs panning.

     


    (model by Barnas Monteith, photos by Larisa Allen, Alfred Venne & Beneski Museum, Amherst College, CCA 4.0)

    License details: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)