Titanic Discovery

The discovery of this specimen helped launch the golden age of paleontology in North America. After acquiring the fossil from fur traders, Dr. Hiram Prout wrote about it in 1846, and his description drew the attention of scientists. At that time, vertebrate paleontology, the study of ancient creatures with a backbone, was a young science, and many began further field work on fossils from the western United States. Titanotheres ate leafy plants and thrived in a warm, subtropical climate, but their family lineage became extinct as climate and habitats changed. Rock layers younger than the Chadron Formation show no evidence of titanothere fossils in the park. Megacerops was a huge herbivore that resembled a modern rhinoceros but belonged to a different family, and all titanotheres became extinct around 34 million years ago. Many titanothere fossils have been found in this area.

South Dakota · United States