Yahoo Movies Idaho needs it’s own state dinosaur. There’s no better candidate than orycto | Opinion
About ninety-nine million years ago (give or take roughly a million years) in eastern Idaho, a small herbivorous dinosaur and its children hid underground in a burrow. Being there specifically because of a predator nearby, a hot day, nap time or a combination of the above, we will never know.
But thanks to (a point to be argued by the dinosaurs) a sudden flood filling the burrow with sediment or the burrow’s sudden collapse, this little dinosaur family would suddenly be on the road to fossilization.
Fast forward to the present day and the fragmentary bones of this unfortunate prehistoric family are held in the vertebrate paleontology collections of the Idaho Museum of Natural History in Pocatello. There they rest with their comrades, other fossils of the dinosaur Oryctodromeus cubicularis (more easily referred to as Orycto), as well as other local dinosaur fossils.
Here I, and other interested parties, are able to study and see the remains of Idaho’s most commonly found dinosaur.
Recently, I have been privileged to help local elementary school students advocate for a state dinosaur for Idaho. This effort has been spearheaded by Joel Walton of Ucon Elementary and his enthusiastic 4th graders; as well as Sen. Kevin Cook of Idaho Falls. Currently, fourteen other states have state dinosaurs among their official state symbols, including our neighbors Utah and Wyoming.
It’s natural to wonder why anyone in government would devote their time to something so seemingly silly and long dead. As a paleontologist, I used to wonder if my profession was selfish. After all, dinosaurs don’t feed the hungry or heal the sick.
However, as part of my job I have taught many seventh graders (shout-out to Mountain View Middle School in Blackfoot), and I currently teach students at the College of Eastern Idaho and Idaho State University. From speaking to my students, I came to realize that at some point in their youth, just about everyone has had a love for dinosaurs — if not, I am so sorry.
And while that love for dinosaurs doesn’t always last forever (again I am so sorry), it at least is often the first introduction to the fields of biological and geological science that our kids have. That seed of love for science often grows with our kids as they mature, and starts an interest in learning about how and why the natural world works. These students of mine often move on to the medical field, other scientific fields, or to the field of education themselves.
And according to many of them, this long-ago love for dinosaurs helped inspire them to their current paths. I think there is no greater justification for a state dinosaur than that fact.
As to why we have chosen Orycto as the hopeful candidate, there are a few reasons.:
Idaho dinosaurs are stinking hard to find, but Orycto is the most common one we find by a long shot.
Orycto is found only in southeastern Idaho and southwesternmost Montana.
Orycto took care of its kids. This is rarely shown in dinosaurs and is something special we can all relate to.
Idaho currently has 15 state symbols. Each one represents a specific aspect of the beautiful place we call home. These symbols represent the cultural, biological and geological diversity and wonder of our home, and teach us about what we have in our shared backyard.
I would ask for the public’s support in adding our local dinosaur as an official state symbol through SB 1127, and through that process, we can encourage local educators and scientists of upcoming generations.
L. J. Krumenacker is a Blackfoot native who serves as a professor of geology and biology at the College of Eastern Idaho and Idaho State University. He researches Idaho’s dinosaurs, as well as crocodiles, birds, marine animals and biological recovery from mass extinction event.
