News Release

Paleontology Program: Agate Fossil Beds and the Rise of the American Serengeti

Badlands Park Ranger Ed Welsh holds a fossil skull in the Badlands' Paleontology Lab.

NPS Photo

News Release Date: July 19, 2023

Contact: Tera Lynn Gray, 308-436-9768

Cruise the Cenozoic on a virtual road trip from Agate Fossil Beds to Badlands National Park on Saturday, July 22^nd at 1 pm. Get up close and personal with mammal fossils from both parks and learn how the different rock layers exposed in the two sites tell scientists about the “Rise of the American Serengeti.”

Badlands National Park Ranger Paleontologist Ed Welsh will be at the Agate Visitor Center to show how these protected places tells us about the Cenozoic Era, with an emphasis on the transition between the exposed time periods transition from Badlands to Agate. And how paleontologists to this day are studying how North America’s native wildlife was more like what we would expect to see in Africa today.

“We are honored to have Ranger Ed speak at Agate this Saturday,” said Lead Park Ranger Tera Lynn Gray. “Going to school not far from here, Ed spent a lot of time exploring these hills and learning about the animals locked within them.”

This program is one of a series of free paleontology programs hosted at Agate, called the “4^th Saturday Summer Speaker Series.” Next month, Dr. Robert Hunt will be back in the park talking about his life’s work here as one of the most prolific modern paleontologists at Agate.

Agate Fossil Beds strives to make all of their programs accessible to everyone. There will be an ASL interpreter and audio describer available Saturday afternoon. Please contact the park if other accommodations are needed. [phone].