Swift-footed lizard named state dinosaur of Massachusetts

A swift-footed lizard that lived millions of years ago in Massachusetts has been declared the state’s official dinosaur under a legislation signed by Governor Charlie Baker. 

Podokesaurus holyokensis was chosen over another dinosaur species because it received more than 60% of the roughly 35,000 votes cast in a social media campaign started early last year by state Representative Jack Lewis.

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Republican Governor Charlie Baker, during the signing ceremony at the Museum of Science in Boston said, “If I think about my own childhood, the thing that got me interested in science in the first place was dinosaurs”. “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”.

State Representative Jack Lewis came up with the concept of a state dinosaur when he was looking for interesting projects for the Cub Scout den during the pandemic. 

Jack Lewis further said Podokesaurus holyokensis, which means “swift-footed lizard of Holyoke,” was discovered by Mount Holyoke College professor Mignon Talbot. She was the first woman to discover and describe a dinosaur.

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“Hopefully if this project inspires just a couple young girls to grow up and explore paleontology, it would have been all worth it,” he added. 

According to Mark McMenamin, a geology professor at Mount Holyoke College, the Podokesaurus holyokensis roamed in Western Massachusetts 200 million years ago in contrast to Tyrannosaurus rex, which perished 66 million years ago. 

According to Lewis, the species was 3 to 6 feet (about 1 to 2 meters) long, weighed around 90 pounds (40 kilograms), and had a top speed of 9 to 12 mph (14 to 19 kph).

Coelophysoid dinosaurs of the genus Podokesaurus lived during the Early Jurassic Period. Geologist Mignon Talbot made the first fossil discovery in 1910 close to Mount Holyoke in Massachusetts.