The Badlands

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The other day I watched a program about The Badlands in South Dakota. The Badlands is now on my bucket list of places I'd like to visit. The striking geological landforms are rich in fossil beds. Imagine a land filled with saber tooth tigers, three toed horses, rhinos, camels, ruminating hogs and many more unusual mammals.

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Present day Badlands is a national park of 224,000 acres and has one of the few remaining herds of wild bison. I learned the lowly prairie dog is beneficial to many animals in the area including the bison. 

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Prairie dog den excavations make loose dirt and the dust is used by the bison to rid themselves of unwanted insects by rolling around in the dust.

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The Badlands are home to the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. Erosion by wind and water over the decades has uncovered layers of sedimentary hills rich in minerals. The red soil is iron oxide and the purple soil is manganese.

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The first know human inhabitants of The Badlands were Paleo Indians or mammoth hunters. Later the Sioux displaced other Native American tribes who followed the bison there. When gold was discovered in 1874 the Sioux were displaced by settlers and miners. So many sad events in history for the Native Americans.

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Have you been to the Badlands? What's on your bucket list of places to visit? Thanks for reading and for all your comments.