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Humans' fascination with dinosaurs dates back centuries. Before the scientific designation of a group of animals called dinosaurs came sometime in the 1840s, some people believed the dinosaur fossils they found were anything from massive dragon bones to the bones of a human giant. Since then, every American state has searched their soil for dinosaur fossils —And some have come up with more than others.
Stacker compiled a list of the states with the most dinosaur fossil finds. They consulted the Paleobiology Database, a non-profit public resource that brings together fossil records from research institutions around the world, to make their ranking. Minnesota came in at no. 44 with just one total fossil recorded. The fossil was from the Cenomanian time period, and from the Dromaeosauridae genus. Here's what they had to say about Minnesota's dinosaur fossil find:
A fossilized dino claw with a tooth and vertebrae was discovered in 2015 in Minnesota, but the jury is still out on whether the artifact hitched a ride on a glacier or called the North Star State home. There’s no other evidence of dinosaurs, but woolly mammoth and old bison fossils have been found in Minnesota, as well as others that date back as far as 540 million years ago.
While Kentucky, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin all have no recorded dinosaur fossils, California comes in at no. 1 with 1,988 fossils.