Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument
IUCN Category III (Natural Monument)
Location	Twin Falls County / Gooding County, Idaho, USA
Nearest city	Hagerman, IDNearest city: Hagerman, ID
Coordinates	42°47′25″N 114°56′43″W / 42.79028°N 114.94528°W / 42.79028; -114.94528Coordinates: 42°47′25″N 114°56′43″W / 42.79028°N 114.94528°W / 42.79028; -114.94528
Area	4,351 acres (17.60 km²)
Established	November 18, 1988 Established: November 18, 1988
Visitors	22,442   (in 2004)
Governing body	National Park Service

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument near Hagerman, Idaho, contains the largest concentration of Hagerman Horse fossils in North America. The fossil horses for which the Monument is famous have been found in only one locale in the northern portion of the Monument called the Hagerman Horse Quarry. The 4,351-acre (17.6 km²) Monument is internationally significant because it protects the world's richest known fossil deposits from a time period called the late Pliocene epoch, 3.5 million years ago. These plants and animals represent the last glimpse of that time that existed before the Ice Age, and the earliest appearances of modern flora and fauna. This is also significant because the fossils present during this period of the Pliocene represent species which were alive during the early stages in the evolution of man, albeit on a different continent.

[edit] Notable fossil species

• Hagerman Horse, Equus simplicidens, formerly known as Plesippus shoshonensis
• Camelops, An extinct species of camel that once inhabited North America

Many other species are also found in the fossil record, such as mastodon, dirk tooth cat, bone crushing dog (Borophaginae), as well as various species of fish, frog, vole and beaver.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument

• Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument official site

v • d • e Protected Areas of Idaho Federal National Parks: Yellowstone National Park National Historic Sites: Minidoka National Historic Site National Monuments: Craters of the Moon • Hagerman Fossil Beds National Forests: Bitterroot • Boise • Caribou-Targhee • Clearwater • Coeur d'Alene • Idaho Panhandle • Kaniksu • Kootenai • Nez Perce • Payette • Salmon-Challis • Sawtooth • St. Joe • Wallowa–Whitman • Wasatch-Cache National Wildlife Refuges: Bear Lake  • Camas  • Deer Flat  • Grays Lake  • Kootenai  • Minidoka  • Oxford Slough Waterfowl Production Area National Grasslands: Curlew National Recreation Areas: Hells Canyon • Sawtooth National Conservation Areas: Snake River Birds of Prey Wilderness Areas: Big Jacks Creek • Bruneau-Jarbidge Rivers • Craters of the Moon • Frank Church-River of No Return • Gospel Hump • Hells Canyon • Little Jacks Creek • North Fork Owyhee • Owyhee River • Pole Creek • Selway-Bitterroot • Sawtooth • State State Parks: Bear Lake • Box Canyon • Bruneau Dunes • Castle Rocks • City of Rocks • Coeur d'Alene Parkway • Dworshak • Eagle Island • Farragut • Harriman • Hells Gate • Henrys Lake • Heyburn • Lake Cascade • Lake Walcott • Land of the Yankee Fork • Lucky Peak • Malad Gorge • Massacre Rocks • McCroskey • Niagara Springs • Old Mission • Ponderosa • Priest Lake • Round Lake • Thousand Springs • Three Island Crossing • Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes • Winchester Lake • Yankee Fork Historic Area Idaho Department of Parks & Recreation (website)

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