From savannah plains to swamps to a lake-covered landscape, the area that would become Utah has featured many different environments throughout Earth’s history. These dramatic ecosystem changes happened slowly over thousands to millions of years, and with each change came a new chance for different animals to wander the lands. Explore the Past Worlds gallery to learn more about these changes and what they can tell us about how plants and animals survive in our continually changing world.
Activities
Fossil Exploration
Determine what Utah looked like long ago through observations and inferences.
Start Exploring
Extinction Event Newscaster
Explore and engage student curiosity in creating and reporting on an extinction event.
Get Inspired
Design A Dino
Design a dinosaur and use household objects to create an impression fossil.
Start Creating
Q&A with Paleontologist Dr. Mark Loewen
 | Mark Loewen is a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Utah. He specializes in research on Jurassic and Cretaceous dinosaurs with an emphasis on the taxonomy, evolution, and biogeography of meat-eating, armored, and horned dinosaurs. Along with colleagues he has named 13 dinosaurs including Utahceratops. |
 | What does it mean to be a paleontologist? What happens when paleontologists find a dinosaur fossil? And how do we know what dinosaurs looked like? Find the answer to these questions and more with Dr. Mark Loewen. |
 | What structures help a dinosaur survive? How are dinosaurs named? Why do scientists compare dinosaurs to birds? Hear Mark answer these questions and more in an interview for 3rd-6th grade students. |
| How is a dinosaur skull like a suspension bridge? Why do dinosaurs have so many holes in their skulls? Who are the closest relatives to dinosaurs? What does a dinosaur embryo look like? These questions and more are answered by Mark in his 6th-12th grade interview. |