You're probably familiar with Massachusetts' state bird (the chickadee,) state drink (cranberry juice) and maybe even the Bay State's state flower (the Mayflower, of course.)
But now, Massachusetts has its own official state dinosaur — the Podokesaurus Holyokensis.
Governor Charlie Baker, alongside Lt. Governor Karyn Polito and other lawmakers, attended a ceremonial signing Wednesday at the Museum of Science for legislation that establishes an official state dinosaur.
Gov. Baker said he loved dinosaurs as a child, even though he was always better at English.
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"The main reason they got me interested is because of their majesty and ferocity and their almost alien being status," Baker said. "And I do want to give the kids, who are fascinated with dinosaurs a lot of credit for making this day possible and working with Representative Lewis and other folks in the legislature to give a tough, spunky underdog from Holyoke the opportunity to be the dinosaur here in the Commonwealth."
The Podokesaurus Holyokensis is believed to have been between three and six feet long, weigh about 90 pounds and travel between nine and 12 miles per hour, according to the UMass Amherst magazine. They had a carnivorous diet and lived around 180 to 195 million years ago.
The governor said it was a perfect time to introduce the state dinosaur as STEM week remains underway in Massachusetts.
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"Having this signing ceremony is perfect for us to celebrate what is happening in our classrooms," Lt. Gov. Polito said. "We've been intentional in Massachusetts to turn our classrooms, as well as our educators and leaders in our school districts into learning labs. And investing in equipment and the kind of state of the art things like CNC machines, 3D printers and lab scopes into the classrooms."
Massachusetts Representative Jack Lewis, who is one of the lead sponsors of the dinosaur legislation, said the endeavor engaged children from across the state. The idea came to him late one night during the beginning of the pandemic, while he was prepping a zoom meeting for the local cub scout group he is den leader for. He thought doing a segment on dinosaurs would interest them, and while researching, learned that Massachusetts did not have a state dinosaur.
"Found out there were 12 states with state dinosaurs," Rep. Lewis recalled. "Remembered at that moment that as a legislator I could file legislation to make a state dinosaur. So that next day I reached out to leading paleontologists from across the Commonwealth."
Thousands of people ended up voting in an online poll to select the official dinosaur for the state.
"What I didn't expect was how much people needed something to talk about and get excited about during the worst of that pandemic," Rep. Lewis said.
He hopes that young girls are inspired to explore the STEM world, including paleontology, since the Podokesaurus Holyokensis was discovered by a female paleontologist named Mignon Talbot.
