Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, Maiasaura, Deinonychus, Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops. As a dinosaur-loving child growing up in New England, I learned very quickly that all the really popular, exciting dinosaurs lived in Nowhere Near My Home. They all lived out west, on the other side of the great inland sea. Back east, we can claim Hadrosaurus, some tracks... and that, according to the dinosaur books of my childhood, was it. Maybe Dryptosaurus would get a shout-out, thanks to
Charles Knight's "Leaping Laelaps" painting (still one of the greatest works of paleoart ever made). Maybe there'd be a mention of Anchisaurus because you can't not love a basal sauropod the size of a sheepdog. But generally, eastern dinosaurs would be ignored by popular culture.
Asher Elbein's
Lost Continent of Appalachia aims to fix that. It's a quick read, gorgeously illustrated, and tells the stories of the animals that roamed the eastern parts of North America during the Cretaceous. And I love it! It's what child-me would have given anything within reason to read. (In fact, I would love to see it as a nice hardcover book someday.) Make sure you read Asher's companion post at good old
Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs too. He's promised to post more behind-the-scenes material there and I can't wait.
-----
Art of the Day!
Antpittas! Look at these adorable little fuzzballs on stick legs!
