
Stones Hint at Possible 600-Mile Dinosaur Migration From Wisconsin to Wyoming
By Alex Fox/Smithsonianmag.com
A group of polished, ancient stones found in Wyoming may have been carried more than 600 miles in the huge bellies of plant-eating dinosaurs, reports Ashley Piccone for Wyoming Public Radio. The findings, published last month in the journal Terra Nova, could provide a new line of evidence that dinosaurs may have undertaken long overland migrations.
Discovered near Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin in a geologic feature called the Morrison formation, researchers say these smooth, fist-sized rocks are gastroliths, which are rocks swallowed by dinosaurs—and some modern birds and reptiles—that may help grind up fibrous food.
A father-son geology duo collected the proposed gastroliths in 2017 during field research because the stones’ shiny appearance looked out of place surrounded by the fine-grained mud-rock that predominates the Morrison, reports Lucas Joel for the New York Times.
“We were walking around just doing some fieldwork in the Bighorn Basin,” Joshua Malone, a PhD student in geology at the University of Texas at Austin and the study’s lead author, tells Wyoming Public Radio. “We started seeing these polished stones and we were like, ‘those look pretty exotic compared to all the other rock around us.'”

Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator.
She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues.
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