Big Bone Lick State Park is located at
Big BoneBig Bone is an unincorporated community in southern Boone County, Kentucky, United States, centered at . It is bounded on the west by the Ohio River, and Rabbit Hash, on the south by Big Bone Creek, which empties into the river at Big Bone Landing. The northern extent is along Hathaway Road, and...
in
Boone County, KentuckyBoone County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was formed in 1798. The population estimate as of 2008 was 115,221. Its county seat is Burlington. The county is named for frontiersman Daniel Boone...
. It is located on Beaver Road and between the communities of Beaverlick and Rabbit Hash. The name of the park comes from the
PleistoceneThe Pleistocene is the epoch from 2.588 million to 12 000 years BP covering the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
megafaunaThe term megafauna has two distinct meanings in the biological sciences. The less commonly found meaning, used for benthic organisms, is of any animal which can be seen with the unaided eye, in contrast to microfauna - however, the standard term for this category is macrofauna rather than megafauna...
fossilFossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous rock formations and sedimentary layers is known as the fossil record...
s found there. The
mammothA mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair. They lived from...
s and other creatures are believed to have been drawn to this location by a
salt lickA salt lick is a salt deposit that animals regularly lick. In an ecosystem, salt/mineral licks often occur naturally, providing the sodium, calcium, iron, phosphorus and zinc required in the springtime for bone, muscle and other growth in deer and other wildlife, such as moose, elephants, cattle,...
. It bills itself as "the birthplace of American
paleontologyPaleontology
[from Greek: παλαιός "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought"] is the study of prehistoric life, including organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
" a term which dates from William Clark's expedition in 1807.
In 2002, the
National Park ServiceThe National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
designated Big Bone Lick State Park as an official Lewis and Clark Heritage Trail Site. The Park was also listed in 1972 on the
National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, and was further listed as a
National Natural LandmarkThe National Natural Landmark program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the United States' natural history. It is the only natural areas program of national scope that identifies and recognizes the best examples of biological and geological features in both...
in February 2009.
Attractions
A new visitor's center was officially opened on November 18, 2004, but this was only the first stage of a much larger project now in quest of funding. The museum center features fossils,
American art- American Art :Released on May 8, 2007 on Doghouse Records. It is the debut album of the band Weatherbox. The album received critical acclaim from several sources including underground music distribution company, Smartpunk, who used these words to describe the music's genre and style "Thirteen...
and a 1,000
poundThe pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
mastodonMastodons or mastodonts were large tusked mammal species of the extinct genus Mammut found in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and Central America from the Oligocene through Pleistocene, 33.9 mya to 11,000 years ago. The American mastodon is the most recent and best known species of the group...
skull as well as a gift shop.
The park also features several nature trails, including the Outdoor Museum with Discovery Trail that includes a boardwalk around a marsh
bogA bog or mire is a wetland type that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—usually mosses, but also lichens in Arctic climates....
diorama with recreations of a
woolly mammothThe woolly mammoth , also called the tundra mammoth, is an extinct species of mammoth. This animal is known from bones and frozen carcasses from northern North America and northern Eurasia with the best preserved carcasses in Siberia.This mammoth species was first recorded in deposits of the...
, a
mastodonMastodons or mastodonts were large tusked mammal species of the extinct genus Mammut found in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and Central America from the Oligocene through Pleistocene, 33.9 mya to 11,000 years ago. The American mastodon is the most recent and best known species of the group...
, a giant sloth,
bisonMembers of the genus Bison are large even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant species and four extinct species are recognized...
, and scavengers feeding on carcasses and skeletal remains. The Discovery Trail winds through several habitats, including
grasslandGrasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
,
wetlandA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water. Wetlands include swamps, marshes, and bogs, among others. The water found in wetlands can be saltwater, freshwater,...
and
savannaA savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close...
, and is accessible to the physically-challenged.
A small
bisonMembers of the genus Bison are large even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant species and four extinct species are recognized...
herd is also maintained on-site.
Gallery
External links