The great dinosaur bone beds of the American and Canadian West are world famous and have yielded spectacular fossil finds. But the eastern United States and maritime Canada, where dinosaurs also roamed in great numbers, have been equally important to the study of these extraordinary creatures. Some dinosaur fossils have come from the bog iron and clay pits of Maryland and New Jersey, while others have been discovered in the riverbanks of North and South Carolina. Dinosaur footprint sites have been found from central Virginia to the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.
In Dinosaurs of the East Coast, David Weishampel and Luther Young restore East Coast dinosaurs to their rightful place on the paleontological map. They describe such dinosaurs as the plant-eating Astrodon johnstoni, which browsed in a tropical Maryland jungle 100 million years ago; Anchisaurus polyzelus, which lived in New England some 200 million years ago; Eubrontes, the first large therapod on the East Coast; Pekinosaurus olseni, a primitive ornithischian found in North Carolina; and Hadrosaurus foulkii, a duck-billed dinosaur that lived in New Jersey some 70 million years ago. In addition, they chronicle the long and colorful history of dinosaur fossil hunting along the Atlantic coast and profile the modern-day fossil hunters--both professional paleontologists and amateur collecters--who continue to make important discoveries today. Richly illustrated with more than one hundred photographs and drawings, Dinosaurs of the East Coast combines science and history to offer a new look at an always fascinating subject.
--Peter Dodson, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine "Philadelphia Inquirer"