California has almost no dinosaurs and a great deal of everything else. Only 15 of the state's 55,979 fossil records are dinosaurs; the Quaternary has the most records of any period, 16,725, followed by the Neogene with 14,060.
The dinosaur gap has a reason. Much of California's Cretaceous rock formed on the sea floor, so the few dinosaurs found were carried out to sea. Augustynolophus, a duck-billed dinosaur from the marine Moreno Formation, has two records and became the state dinosaur in 2017.
The ice age is the main story. At La Brea in Los Angeles, crude oil seeps up as asphalt and trapped animals that stepped in; predators that came for the trapped animals were caught in turn. The database has 224 records of Equus, the horse, 56 of Mammuthus and 53 of Mammut, plus 11 of Smilodon, the sabre-toothed cat that is the state fossil. The oil and asphalt behind it are part of the natural resources in California.
The coast adds the sea. Otodus, the megalodon shark, has 35 records from Neogene rock, and the Cambrian trilobite Olenellus has 104.
Dinosaurs found in California
The Paleobiology Database lists 15 dinosaur finds in California. These are the best documented.
- Grallator: Small three-toed footprints of a meat-eating dinosaur, common in Triassic and Jurassic rock. A track name. Found 1 time, from 201 to 175 million years ago.
- Augustynolophus: A duck-billed dinosaur. Found 2 times, from 72.2 to 66 million years ago.
- Aletopelta: An armored dinosaur. Found 1 time, from 83.6 to 72.2 million years ago.
- Anchisauripus: Mid-sized three-toed footprints from Early Jurassic rock, bigger than Grallator and smaller than Eubrontes. Found 1 time, from 201 to 175 million years ago.
Other fossils found in California
Beyond dinosaurs, the California record includes these animals and plants.
- Equus (horse): The horse genus, with zebras and donkeys. Horses evolved in North America and died out there in the Ice Age. Found 224 times, from 4.7 to 0.01 million years ago.
- Mammuthus (mammoth): An Ice Age elephant relative with long curved tusks. Woolly mammoths lived in the north, Columbian ones farther south. Found 56 times, from 4.7 to 0.01 million years ago.
- Otodus (megalodon): The largest known predatory shark, about 15 m long, with teeth up to 18 cm. It died out about 3.6 million years ago. Found 35 times, from 23 to 2.6 million years ago.
- Mammut (mastodon): A browsing Ice Age elephant relative with long, upward-curving tusks and ridged, low-crowned teeth. Not a mammoth. Found 53 times, from 23 to 0.01 million years ago.
- Baculites (baculite): An ammonite with a straight, rod-shaped shell instead of a coil, common in Late Cretaceous seas. Found 203 times, from 101 to 66 million years ago.
- Isotelus (trilobite): An Ordovician trilobite with a smooth, shield-like body. One species reached 72 cm, among the largest trilobites known. Found 5 times, from 471 to 458 million years ago.
- Dunkleosteus: An armored fish of the Late Devonian with sharp bony blades in place of teeth. Found 1 time, from 382 to 359 million years ago.
- Prognathodon: A mosasaur with a broad, heavy skull and strong jaws, built for large prey. Some species passed 10 m. Found 1 time, from 72.2 to 66 million years ago.
- Olenellus (trilobite): An Early Cambrian trilobite, over 500 million years old, with a spiny body and a wide head shield. Found 104 times, from 515 to 505 million years ago.
- Bison: The bison genus. Ice Age bison were larger than today's, and Bison latifrons had horns spanning about 2 m. Found 31 times, from 2.6 to 0.01 million years ago.
- Smilodon (sabre-toothed cat): An Ice Age big cat with upper canines up to 18 cm long. Often called a sabre-toothed tiger, but not a tiger. Found 11 times, from 2.6 to 0.01 million years ago.
- Megalonyx (Jefferson's ground sloth): A ground sloth about 3 m long. Thomas Jefferson described its claw bones in 1797 and named it for the claw. Found 34 times, from 9.4 to 0.01 million years ago.
State symbols
- State fossil: Saber-toothed cat (adopted 1973) Read the statute
- State dinosaur: Augustynolophus morrisi (adopted 2017) Read the statute
Gov. Code Sec. 425.7(a); added by Stats. 2017 ch. 264 (AB 1540) effective Jan 1 2018. | Gov. Code Sec. 425.7(b) 'The saber-toothed cat (Smilodon californicus) is the official state fossil.' Year 1973 from secondary sources; leginfo page only shows the 2017 amendment history. PBDB: S. californicus often treated as Smilodon fatalis junior synonym.
How the land changed
Every fossil records the place it was buried in. Reading those places period by period shows how California changed.
- Carboniferous (359 to 299 Ma): most fossils from this time come from a shallow sea.
- Jurassic (201 to 143 Ma): most fossils from this time come from deep ocean.
- Cretaceous (143 to 66 Ma): most fossils from this time come from a shallow sea.
- Paleogene (66 to 23 Ma): most fossils from this time come from a shallow sea.
- Neogene (23 to 2.6 Ma): most fossils from this time come from a coast or delta.
- Quaternary (2.6 to 0 Ma): most fossils from this time come from a coast or delta.
Oldest and youngest finds in California
The oldest find in the California record is Nevadia, dated to about 539 million years ago. The youngest is Turritella, from the last 12,000 years.
Fossil finds in California by period
| Period | Million years ago | Finds | Most common group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cambrian | 539 to 487 | 630 | Invertebrates |
| Ordovician | 487 to 443 | 1,024 | Invertebrates |
| Silurian | 443 to 420 | 642 | Invertebrates |
| Devonian | 420 to 359 | 134 | Invertebrates |
| Carboniferous | 359 to 299 | 1,532 | Invertebrates |
| Permian | 299 to 252 | 1,215 | Invertebrates |
| Triassic | 252 to 201 | 444 | Invertebrates |
| Jurassic | 201 to 143 | 1,916 | Invertebrates |
| Cretaceous | 143 to 66 | 7,331 | Invertebrates |
| Paleogene | 66 to 23 | 10,298 | Invertebrates |
| Neogene | 23 to 2.6 | 14,060 | Invertebrates |
| Quaternary | 2.6 to 0 | 16,725 | Invertebrates |
Frequently asked questions
What is the state fossil of California?
California has designated Saber-toothed cat as its state fossil, adopted in 1973.
What is the state dinosaur of California?
Augustynolophus morrisi is the official state dinosaur of California, adopted in 2017.
What dinosaurs have been found in California?
The best-documented dinosaurs in the California record are Grallator, Augustynolophus, Aletopelta and Anchisauripus. The Paleobiology Database lists 15 dinosaur finds there.
How many fossils have been found in California?
The Paleobiology Database records 55,979 fossil finds in California, covering 4,363 kinds of animals, plants and other life.
What is the oldest fossil found in California?
The oldest find in the California record is Nevadia, dated to about 539 million years ago.
How can I see fossils near me in California?
Type a town or ZIP code into the search box at the top of this page, or use your location, to see the fossils recorded within 25 to 200 km. Natural history museums and state fossil parks are the best places to see real specimens.
Keep exploring
More fossil states: Texas, Wyoming, Florida, Utah, New Mexico, Montana, all 50 states.
Credits and data
- Fossil finds: the Paleobiology Database, licensed CC BY 4.0. Counts are records in the database, which reflect research effort as well as geology.
- Ancient Earth maps and plate motion: PALEOMAP PaleoDEMs, Scotese and Wright (2018), CC BY 4.0, doi:10.5281/zenodo.5460860.
- Place names: US Census Gazetteer (public domain) and GeoNames, CC BY 4.0.
- Silhouettes: PhyloPic contributors (David Orr, U.S. National Park Service (vectorized by William Gearty), Vincent BACHA, Steven Traver, Margot Michaud, artrociraptor, Olof Moleman, Tyler Greenfield, Jagged Fang Designs, Amy Beauvois, Brad McFeeters (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey), Charles Doolittle Walcott (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey)).