How Many Dinosaur Fossils Do You Think Have Been Found in Idaho?

So, apparently finding dinosaur fossils in Idaho is a thing... and it pays millions! What the heck have I been doing with my life?!

After learning this, and also with the Jurassic World Live Tour visiting Boise (keep scrolling for amazing pictures of what that looks like by the way), I’m sure many of us have had dinosaurs on our minds recently.

At least I have, and I can’t help but wonder, what are my odds?

How many dinosaur fossils have actually been found in Idaho?

Fortunately for us, there’s some new information compiled by Stacker that tells us how many dinosaur fossils have been found in Idaho, at least the ones that have been reported to the Paleobiology Database (PTBD).

To find out how many dinosaur fossils have been found in Idaho, Stacker first, “consulted the Paleobiology Database, a non-profit public resource that brings together fossil records from research institutions around the world. Data is current as of May 2022.” Then they, “pulled all records labeled “Dinosauria” (the dinosaur clade) and sorted them by state.”

Here’s what they found for Idaho:

- Total fossils recorded in PBDB: 72

- Genus with the most fossils: Dinosauria (6 fossils)

- Time period with the most fossils: Cenomanian (29 fossils)

You learn something new every day, but apparently Idaho used to also be completely submerged underwater, and Stacker says, “It wasn’t until the Cenozoic period that Idaho emerged from underwater, and conditions were right to preserve fossils.”

Keep scrolling for this Summer's lineup of Regal movies, outdoor movie schedules for Kuna, Meridian, and Nampa, and a bunch of family-friendly activities in the Boise area 👇