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Dinosaurs of the East Coast

David B. Weishampel and Luther Young

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The great dinosaur bone beds of the American and Canadian West are world famous and have yielded spectacular fossil finds. But the eastern United States and maritime Canada, where dinosaurs also roamed in great numbers, have been equally important to the study of these extraordinary creatures. Some dinosaur fossils have come from the bog iron and clay pits of Maryland and New Jersey, while others have been discovered in the riverbanks of North and South Carolina. Dinosaur footprint sites have been found from central Virginia to the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.

In Dinosaurs of the East Coast...

The great dinosaur bone beds of the American and Canadian West are world famous and have yielded spectacular fossil finds. But the eastern United States and maritime Canada, where dinosaurs also roamed in great numbers, have been equally important to the study of these extraordinary creatures. Some dinosaur fossils have come from the bog iron and clay pits of Maryland and New Jersey, while others have been discovered in the riverbanks of North and South Carolina. Dinosaur footprint sites have been found from central Virginia to the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.

In Dinosaurs of the East Coast, David Weishampel and Luther Young restore East Coast dinosaurs to their rightful place on the paleontological map. They describe such dinosaurs as the plant-eating Astrodon johnstoni, which browsed in a tropical Maryland jungle 100 million years ago; Anchisaurus polyzelus, which lived in New England some 200 million years ago; Eubrontes, the first large therapod on the East Coast; Pekinosaurus olseni, a primitive ornithischian found in North Carolina; and Hadrosaurus foulkii, a duck-billed dinosaur that lived in New Jersey some 70 million years ago. In addition, they chronicle the long and colorful history of dinosaur fossil hunting along the Atlantic coast and profile the modern-day fossil hunters—both professional paleontologists and amateur collecters—who continue to make important discoveries today. Richly illustrated with more than one hundred photographs and drawings, Dinosaurs of the East Coast combines science and history to offer a new look at an always fascinating subject.

Reviews

Reviews

A meticulous, well-structured and thoroughly referenced account of 200 years of activities... This book also serves as a field guide, complete with site maps, lists of museum displays, sources of information on sites and advice on fossil collecting. Much information has been drawn together to create a comprehensive reference source for eastern North America.

Well-written and richly illustrated... [Weishampel and Young] have succeeded admirably in capturing both the importance and the romance of the little understood and barely touched 'lost world' that lies hidden beneath the verdant but secretive eastern American landscape... An indispensable reference for anyone interested in the prehistory of eastern North America and the dinosaurs that inhabited this part of the world.

An enjoyable and stimulating study of a subject that has gotten little attention. Weishampel and Young present a wealth of information about the Eastern seaboard's scattered dinosaur fossils, the area's surprisingly common fossil footprints and tracks, and the collectors, both professional and amateur, who have discovered so much in an apparently unpromising region.

I know of no other book like this. It is beautifully thought out and organized, and it covers one of the most important regions in the world of fossil hunting.

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
7
x
10
Pages
296
ISBN
9780801852176
Illustration Description
110 b&w illus., 110 halftones
Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Chapter One. Dinosauria
Chapter Two. An Evolving World
Chapter Three. The Mezozoic East Coast
Chapter Four. The Pioneers
Chapter Five. Dinosaurs of the Late Triassic
Chapter Six

Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Chapter One. Dinosauria
Chapter Two. An Evolving World
Chapter Three. The Mezozoic East Coast
Chapter Four. The Pioneers
Chapter Five. Dinosaurs of the Late Triassic
Chapter Six. Dinosaurs of the Early Jurassic
Chapter Seven. Dinosaurs of the Early Cretaceous
Chapter Eight. Dinosaurs of the Late Cretaceous
Chapter Nine. The Modern Seekers
Chapter Ten. Dinosaur Mysteries
Chapter Eleven. East Coast Paleoprimer
Appendix One. Historical Time Line
Appendix Two. Dinosaurs Directory
Appendix Three. Dinosaur Site Maps
References
Index

Author Bios
Featured Contributor

David B. Weishampel

David B. Weishampel (PARKVILLE, MD), PhD, is a professor emeritus of anatomy at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is a coauthor of Transylvanian Dinosaurs and a coeditor of The Dinosauria.
Featured Contributor

Luther Young

Luther Young is senior science writer and public information officer at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine. Prior to that he was a long-time journalist for the Baltimore Sun, including four years as the newspaper's science writer.