This is an artist’s rendering of the dinosaur Podokesaurus holyokensis, which lived thousands and thousands of years in the past in what is now Massachusetts. The dinosaur, whose title means “swift-footed lizard of Holyoke,” has been named the state’s official dinosaur.
FunkMonk Michael B.H. through AP
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FunkMonk Michael B.H. through AP
This is an artist’s rendering of the dinosaur Podokesaurus holyokensis, which lived thousands and thousands of years in the past in what is now Massachusetts. The dinosaur, whose title means “swift-footed lizard of Holyoke,” has been named the state’s official dinosaur.
FunkMonk Michael B.H. through AP
BOSTON — A “swift-footed lizard” that lived thousands and thousands of years in the past in what is now Massachusetts has been named the state’s official dinosaur beneath laws signed into regulation Wednesday by Gov. Charlie Baker.
Podokesaurus holyokensis obtained greater than 60% of the roughly 35,000 votes solid in a social media marketing campaign initiated early final yr by state Rep. Jack Lewis, beating out one other dinosaur that was additionally found in the state.
“If I think about my own childhood … the thing that got me interested in science in the first place was dinosaurs,” the Republican governor mentioned at the signing ceremony at the Museum of Science in Boston, with a few of the state’s main paleontologists standing behind him. “And the main reason they got me interested is because of their majesty, and their ferocity and their almost alien-being status. As a kid, they just created wonder.”
Lewis got here up with the concept of a state dinosaur whereas looking for participating initiatives for the Cub Scout den he led throughout the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The mission didn’t simply get individuals concerned in science, but additionally taught them about the legislative course of, the Framingham Democrat mentioned.
Podokesaurus holyokensis, which suggests “swift-footed lizard of Holyoke,” was found in western Massachusetts in 1910 by Mount Holyoke College professor Mignon Talbot, “the first woman to find, discover, name and describe a dinosaur,” Lewis mentioned.
“Hopefully if this project inspires just a couple young girls to grow up and explore paleontology, it would have been all worth it,” he mentioned.
The species was three to six ft (round 1 to 2 meters) in size, weighed roughly 90 kilos (40 kilograms), and was estimated to run 9 to 12 mph (14 to 19 kph), Lewis has mentioned.
Baker known as the creature “a tough, spunky underdog from Holyoke.”
About a dozen different states even have official state dinosaurs, Lewis mentioned.