No. 1 - - Stegosaurus of Colorado

[1] Colorado – Stegosaurus (1982)

shortly after this image was captured, the stegosaurus thagomized Kenny to death.

The coolest state dinosaur is definitively the Stegosaurus.

It looks cool, it’s a total classic and it’s covered in awesome and mysterious plates and spikes. Hailing in many instances from the Morrison Formation, some of which is in Colorado, around 80 samples of stegosaurus have emerged, giving paleontologists a lot of information to work with.

Stegosaurus’ weapon of choice is the Thagomizer, which is the actual name of its four-spiked tail. “Teeth,” “claws” and “horns” aren’t anywhere close to as cool as “thagomizer.”

Also, Colorado deserves wicked points for being a pioneer in naming an official state fossil by doing so in 1982, years before any of its contemporaries.

Stegosaurus is the largest of the stegosaurs, and adapted the awesome thagomizer and rows of plates by the mid-to-late Jurassic era, 150 million years ago, ages before ceratopsians became proficient in adapting horns and frills as deterrents from predators.

Hands down, the best official state dinosaur is stegosaurs.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stegosaurus

No 2 - - Triceratops of Wyoming

[2] Triceratops – Wyoming (1994) 
 

While not as awesome as stegosaurus, Wyoming has the second best official state dinosaur with the massive triceratops. At 12 tons and up to 9 metres in length, it was a badass monster with a massive skull (among the largest of all terrestrial animals) the largest of which is 2.5 metres in length, making the skull half the size of a stegosaurus - - and that’s just triceratops’ skull!)

Hailing from the Hell Creek formation, 38 skulls of this classic monster have helped make it one of the most famous and well-known dinosaurs of all. And believe it or not, back in the 1800s, the horns were initially believed to belong to a “large and unusual bison,” if you can believe it.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triceratops 

No 3 - - Hadrosaurus of New Jersey

[3] Hadrosaurus – New Jersey (1991)

A classic choice. 
 
It was discovered in the Woodbury Formation in New Jersey, which is now an American national historic landmark. The nearly complete skeleton provided limbs, dozens of vertebrae, teeth, a pelvis and bits of the feet and some of the jaw.

That’s a remarkable find – and well worth honouring your state by making it the official fossil. Excellent choice, just not the “coolest” dinosaur you could possibly name, though the “high quality” factor is definitely there.

In 1868 it was the first dinosaur skeleton ever mounted (even though it was missing a skull – and to this day is STILL missing a skull).

As I understand it, this is the first and only discovery of its kind, and though there have been other relative species discovered throughout North America, the high quality and early identification of hadrosaurus has made it a famous and historic addition to the fossil record.

Excellent choice for a state fossil.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrosaurus

No. 4 - - Astrodon of Maryland

[4] Astrodon – Maryland (1998)
 

Named after its star-shaped teeth, you probably wouldn’t even see those chompers when you came across an astrodon because they’d be 9 metres up in the frickin’ air! This behemoth brachiosaurid is presumed to have rocked upwards of 20 tons, though considered medium-sized in terms of sauropods.

The specimens were discovered in the Arundel Formation in Maryland back in the 1859 making it one of the earliest discovered dinosaurs in North America ever and the first discovered in Maryland.

That’s pretty cool – plus, Maryland sort of “snagged” the state fossil away from Texas, in a round-about unintentionally sort of way.
 
References:
http://cooldinofacts.wikia.com/wiki/Astrodon

Ontario Hasn't a Single Dinosaur to its Name

Growing up, I had absolutely no understanding of the geological composite of the great province of Ontario. The Canadian Shield, mantle and solid rock that makes it a wondrous world of farmlands that recede into elementally furtive boreal forests, moraines, escarpments and eventually tundra meant nothing to me.

That there’s never been a dinosaur discovered in a province that’s so rich is so many ways, with fresh water, farmlands and minerals like gold, nickel, copper, zinc, silver and cobalt, was completely unknown to me.

Which meant digging a deep hole in my parents’ backyard when I was a kid, well into the water table, was a viable dinosaur hunting past time. Every big rock I came across, protected by the bothersome deciduous roots that interfered with my descent, struck a hope that I’d found a fossil.

(I’m fairly certain I broke at least one shovel levering hunks of wet clay from the bottom of that hole – sorry dad).

I pulled a bunch of fist-sized reddish hunks of rock out of the ground, and might have even hung on to some of them, though they’d all be gone by now.

In any case, many years later, I can only admit that it was all a fantasy, no matter how seriously I took it. Ontario just isn’t constructed in a way that will reveal any dinosaur bones. I’ve come to terms with that … finally.

It’s something that Ontario just doesn’t get – BUT other places have embraced their dinosaurs by naming them the official fossils of their states (an in a very few instances, their official provincial fossil as well).

What are some of the coolest state fossils out there?

I am ranking them from worst to best, beginning with No. 8:

[8]Capitalsaurus (1998)
 

I have this dinosaur ranked as the worst state fossil, and leave it to D.C. to celebrate and commemorate the hell out of the most insubstantial, unimportant, banal discovery in paleontology. Seriously, nobody puts lipstick on a pig like Washington.

In 2001, “capitalsaurus” received its own official day, January 28. It has its own theme song “Them Dino Bones” and there is a block between First and F, Southeast, which has been renamed “Capitalsaurus Court.”

If only all states could honour their official fossils with this much pomp and vigour. While there’s an A for effort, this is the most stupid dinosaur to name as the District of Columbia’s official fossil. Why’d they even bother?!

What made this a good idea? I can’t start off my feelings on this official state fossil in any better way than Michael Gaynor from the Washingtonian put it:

“Unfortunately this specimen was used to try and name a new genus, ‘Capitalsaurus,’ in honor of the nation’s capital,” the Smithsonian website says. “This is not scientifically justified, and the name ‘Capitalsaurus’ has no validity.”

Working with students from two local elementary schools, he [local paleontologist Peter Kranz] presented his findings to the council. It was there that Capitol Hill’s own (maybe) dinosaur benefited from the once-thought-extinct act of political compromise, and the Official Dinosaur Designation Act of 1998 was enacted.

“Capitalsaurus” is not a recognized fossil, species or anything – it’s a completely improvised representation of what could be cool about fossils, and then hyped up with pageantry and children holding hands while swaying back and forth in a circle.

It’s terrible. Easily the very worst official state dinosaur, and some of the animals on this list AREN’T even dinosaurs. That’s how bad “capitalsaurus” is.

References:
http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/capitalcomment/local-news/happy-capitalsaurus-day-1.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_dinosaurs