dolce vita: Who is Haddy? Dinos in New Jersey...

Saturday, May 2, 2020

Who is Haddy? Dinos in New Jersey...

Did you know that the first dinosaur skeleton unearthed in the USA was found in the state of New Jersey? Neither did I, until a few days ago, and I grew up there. Hadrosaurus Foulkii, named after the man who excavated it was, at the time of it's unearthing in 1858, the first and most complete skeleton of a dinosaur to be found in the US. The bones were mounted and put on display by 1868 in Philadelphia. The discovery and excavation has since been described as a watershed moment for the science of Paleontology, turning what was once known as a rich man's hobby of collecting fossils into a field of science worthy of study. Since its find, the Hadrosaurus has been eclipsed by more exciting finds elsewhere in the world and the original site was largely forgotten and used as dumping ground for trash.

In 1984, a boy scout (Christopher Brees)searching for a community project for his eagle award, learned about the discovery of the Hadrosaur and decided to try and find the original site again. He studied old maps to rediscover the site, cleaned up the area, and was able to turn it into a small commemorative park (now a historic landmark), where artifacts can still be found today.

In the 1830's, a man named John Hopkins had land located near the town of Haddonfield, NJ, on which there were marl pits, this is where the bones were found. A marl pit is a place where clay, silt, and sand have collected over time, the weathered particles aggregate together and are compressed to form new rock. This new rock (marl) is mined for use in agriculture as a soil additive and fertilizer for acidic soil. As the marl pit was mined, fossils and prehistoric bones were found and mostly thought of as conversation pieces. These particular bones were actually found in 1838 and the significance was not realized at the time.

In the 1850's William Foulke, who was interested in fossils, heard about the bones and was invited to see them. He wound up excavating the bones from the pit and the skeleton was eventually mounted and put on display. No other dinosaur has ever been found to match the unique one that was excavated from that pit. Foulke had the bones taken to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and they remain there today. Sadly, the skull of the dinosaur was never found. At first an artist made a conception of what the skull might look like and that conception has been modified over time as scientists learn more about the species.

When the skeleton was first mounted, it was put in an upright position reminiscent of a T-Rex, but that has also been modified using additional knowledge, to more of a quadruped style. Scientists don't know for sure about the actual way it moved, but have made educated guesses and there are a few different theories about how it moved, walked and ate. The discovery of the bones set off a frenzy of fossil hunting in the Garden State and from the period of about 1850-1870, most American dinosaur skeletons came from the little ol' state of NJ! This time period of the late 1800's is also known as the “Bone Wars”, characterized as a competition between two preeminent American paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope (of the Philadelphia Academy of Science, Drexel University), and Othniel C. Marsh (of Yale).

In prehistoric times the southern half of the state was submerged. The northern part of the state was above water and connected to the sea, with many marshy areas leading into it. Mastodons, large crocodiles and even giant shark remains have been discovered in the state. Mastodon remains have been found in Sussex County, NJ, and a giant shark specimen called Squalicorax was found with part of its last meal still in the stomach- it did not eat McDonalds, it had another Hadrosaur in there! Other fossil species found in New Jersey include Enchcodus (the sabertooth herring), many specimens of Diplurus (a coelacanth fish), Deinosuchus (a 30 ft long prehistoric crocodile), Icarosaurus (a reptile resembling a flying lizard), Driptosaurus (tearing lizard, a type of Tyrannosaur but not the T. Rex), and the Hadrosaurus already mentioned. The Hadrosaur was about 25 feet long and 10 feet high, it was a vegetarian- eating plants, stems, twigs, and leaves with its specialized teeth. In prehistoric times it roamed the forests and swamps along New Jersey's seacoast. After shutdowns from coronavirus have eased, here are some places to learn about dinosaurs and see their bones near where the Hadrosaur was originally found: