For 164 years January 29 has been Kansas Day. President James Buchanan signed the Kansas Admission Act passed by the United State Congress and Kansas became the 34th state of the United States on Jan. 29, 1861.
Kansas has one capitol,Topeka, 105 counties, 45 rivers and 24 state symbols. Likely most know the State Flower is Wild Native Sunflower; the State Tree is the Cottonwood and the State Bird is the Western Meadowlark. Officially our State Animal is the Buffalo – though the animal truly is a bison. We also have a State Amphibian, the Barred Tiger Salamander and a State Reptile, the Ornate Box Turtle.
Kansas has a State Insect, the Honey Bee, and a State Soil, Harney Silt Loam. There is a State Song, “Home on the Range” and two State Marches, “The Kansas March” and “Here’s Kansas.” There also is a State Banner, a State Flag and a State Seal.
Our State Grass is Little Bluestem. We also have a State Rock, a State Mineral and a State Gemstone – Greenhorn Limestone, Galena and Jelinite respectively. Kansas even has a State Fish, the Channel Catfish.
Chambourcin is our State Red Wine Grape and Vignoles is our State White Wine Grape. We have a State Fruit, the Sandhill Plum. Plus, we have three State Fossils. Yes, three.
In 2014, Kansas gained a State Marine Fossil – Tylosaurus and a State Flying Fossil – Pteranodon. The Tylosaurus was a large, sometimes 45 feet long, predatory mosasaur living in the seas of prehistoric Kansas. A 30 feet specimen of lizard-like Tylosaurus is exhibited in the Sternberg Museum in Hays, Kansas.
Flying above the seas that were home to the Tylosaurus, was the Pteranodon. This extinct reptile had a wingspan of some 20 feet. Though neither were dinosaurs, they lived in the Cretaceous Period at the same time as the dinosaurs.
Tylosaurus and Pteranodon were selected as our State Fossils because Kansas geological deposits have yielded the world’s largest and most complete specimens of both of these ancient creatures. You can view the State Marine Fossil and State Flying Fossil at the Stenberg Museum in Hays, Kansas and the Natural History Museum in Lawrence, Kansas.
The third fossil is the State Land Fossil, the Silvisaurus Condrayi. Governor Laura Kelly signed the bill designating the dinosaur as the State Land Fossil on April 7, 2023. It is the newest of the state symbols and the only known dinosaur to have lived in Kansas.
The Silvisaurus Condrayi was a woodland dinosaur. The name means “lizard of the forest.” The dinosaur was about three feet tall and perhaps 12 feet long. This particular dinosaur was an herbivore, a plant eater.
Warren W. Condray of Wells, Kansas, discovered the fossils of Silvisaurus concrayi in 1955. Condray, a rancher, was checking his cows and calves when he noticed the bones in a gulch on his property. The dinosaur was eventually named after him.
The Silvisaurus condrayi lived about 100 million years ago. At that time, the eastern half of Kansas was densely forested and the western half was under water. Though an herbivore, the dinosaur was covered with boney plates and spikes. The remains of a skeleton of the dinosaur is on display at the Natural History Museum on the Kansas University Campus.
Reader Comments(0)