Tankaceratops sacrisonorum

Talk about wild life!  This herbivore lived right over the hill northwest of the Cave Hills buttes in my header at the moment; albeit his family probably ate the lush jungle plants 65.5 million years ago.  Today they have all gone to oil except for the fossil remains of  more dinosaurs than one can shake a stick at...while threatening the rattlesnakes of today.  How amazing and how good to have cousins that doggedly dig and come up with new bones with no names..until now!

A few years ago another dinosaur was named "Willo" for the rancher's wife on whose land it was found.  Now my own maiden name shares a little of that glory.

 I first read about it in my home town newspaper, Nation's Center News.  Google directed me to a few more sites worth exploring.

" This skull and its accompanying partial skeleton were discovered and collected nearly a decade ago by Stan and Steve Sacrison, respectively of Buffalo and Bison, South Dakota, in the Hell Creek Formation of Harding County. These twin brothers have distinguished themselves over the years in their paleontological discoveries that include three Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons. One of these, "STAN," is the second most complete T. rex skeleton ever discovered.

Implications of this discovery point to concerns held by scientists regarding the proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline, which crosses Montana and South Dakota near other important paleontological sites."

The genus Tatankaceratops is derived from "Tatanka," the Lakota name for the American Bison (Bison bison), in reference to a similarity in size between the two animals. The name also intends to honor the Lakota Sioux Tribe who inhabited the region. The Latin "ceratops," means "horn face," and is commonly included in the names of creatures in this category. The species name, sacrisonorum, is a tip of the hat to Stan and Steve Sacrison. The new specimen, # BHI6226, is reposited at Black Hills Institute, Hill City, South Dakota."