By Morgan Montalvo
WOAI News
Visitors to San Antonio's Witte Museum last evening learned why Texas has been, and remains, an attractive destination for paleontologists and other researchers interested in the Earth's prehistory.
Wednesday evening's lecture, titled "From Dinosaur Bones to Footprints: Over 100 Years of Fossil Discoveries in Texas" featured information on many of the three dozen species of dinosaurs known to have inhabited Texas, and updates on an ongoing excavation near Arlington.
The North Texas site, said Prof. Thomas Adams, the Witte's curator for paleontology and geology as well as last evening's presenter, is revealing what life was like about 96 million years ago during the Middle Cretaceous Period, when much of central North America was under an inland seaway.
Adams said researchers have uncovered bones from prehistoric crocodiles, fish, birds, dinosaurs, turtles and vegetation. He said for nearly 200 years, teams from America's most prestigious museums and universities have converged upon Texas to dig and catalog evidence of ancient animals and plants.
Teams from the Witte will be increasingly active at excavations across Texas in coming years, Adams told News Radio 1200 WOAI.