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Wind Cave National ParkSubhyracodon skeleton
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Wind Cave National Park
Centennial Paleontology Site - Moving the Jacketed Fossils
 
Examining Fossil Teeth at the Mammoth Site

Mammoth Site Photo

Examining Fossil Teeth at the Mammoth Site

Examining the Fossils

The fossils are being examined at the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs. Their staff has years of experience examining the earth’s records of recent mammals such as mammoths, the short faced bear, and the recently discovered American lion.

 
Moving a Large Jacketed Fossil into a Litter

NPS Photo by Tom Farrell

Moving a Large Jacketed Fossil into a Litter

Fossils or Bones?

The records at the Mammoth Site are not fossils like the White River Group fossils found at Wind Cave National Park. They are still bones, but their treatment is much the same as fossils. The bones at the Mammoth Site are about 26,000 years old where the fossils found in the park are about 30 million years old.

 
Securing the Fossil in the Litter

NPS Photo by Tom Farrell

Securing the Fossil in the Litter

Lessons from a Lost World

These Wind Cave fossils reveal to us a past environment of the park. By protecting these fragile remnants, we can learn about a world that now only exists in fragments of fossils lying exposed on a South Dakota prairie.

 
Moving the Fossil Out of the Site

NPS Photo by Tom Farrell

Moving the Fossil Out of the Site

 
Bat bones
Bibliography
Cave Paleontology
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Stemless Hymenoxys  

Did You Know?
The scientific name for the Stemless Hymenoxys is Hymemoxys acaulis. Acaulis means "stemless" and referes to the leafless stalks which bear the flower heads.
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Last Updated: May 12, 2007 at 17:21 EST