What Dinosaur Bones Have Been Found Here In The Texas Panhandle?

I found out something recently that I really shouldn't be that surprised by. We all know that the Texas panhandle was a wild and interesting history, but that goes back way further than the days of the wild west. Think prehistoric. Think dinosaurs.

What dinosaur bones have been found here in the Texas panhandle? Well, there's a lot.

Apparently The Texas Panhandle Wasn't Always This Dry And Dusty

I wasn't shocked that there has been a wide variety of dinosaur bones...fossils...found in the area. I was shocked, however, to find out that the Texas panhandle hasn't always been this dry and dusty.

The Texas panhandle actually, at one time, was swampy. It was kind of like a tropical rain forest.

Yes. That means there were trees here once upon a time.

This swampy, tropical forest climate was awfully hospitable to a range of prehistoric beasts. Some of them sound like some of the things we're accustomed to now Some of them are the stuff of nightmares.

We Had Everything From Giant Crocodile Type Monsters, To Gigantic Armadillos

Of course we would have had something that somewhat resembles a giant armadillo. Texas will always be Texas. I don't care if it's a tropical swamp or a windy, dusty, giant, empty field.

The giant armadillo dino is referred to as the Glyptodon.

They say it was as big as a car and could crush humans with its tail. Legend has it that humans could actually live inside the shells of one of these things. The animal not still inside of it, of course. Two's company, a Glyptodon's a crowd all by itself.

That massive crocodile-esque monstrosity I mentioned? That was the Phytosaur. They were big. They were scary. Look at that skull.

We Also Had Mastodons, And Saber-Toothed Cats

A lot of us are familiar with the fact that Mastodons are known to have been in the area. In case you didn't know, the ever famous Saber-Toothed Cat even did time in the panhandle.

Fossils have been found of them both.

This Is Just Scratching The Surface Of Dinosaurs In The Texas Panhandle

Given what the climate was supposedly like, millions upon millions of years ago, it isn't surprising that there was actually a wide variety of prehistoric beasts roaming the Texas panhandle. There have been a lot of discoveries of various species in our area.