Florida is a state well-known for its wildlife, so it’s no surprise that plenty of fossils have been found in the state.
However, no dinosaur fossils have been found here, according to the Florida Department of State.
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State officials said that during the “age of dinosaurs” — tens of millions of years ago — the Florida peninsula was underwater, so no dinosaur remains were ever deposited on the land.
The land that would become Florida ultimately wouldn’t even begin to surface until tens of millions of years later.
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Instead, the oldest vertebrate fossil found in Florida belongs to a sea turtle, according to the Florida Museum.
It’s over 100 million years old, placing it firmly in the Mesozoic Era, when the state was still underwater.
Other fossils stemming from Ancient Florida include toothed whales, four-legged sea cows, giant sea snakes and large sharks, among other marine animals.
Many vertebrate fossils have been found at the following sites in Central Florida:
| Site | County | Common Fossils | Estimated Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agricola Road - Hookers Prairie Mine | Polk | Horses, alligators and freshwater turtles (typically partial bones or teeth) | 12-11 million years ago |
| Coleman 2A | Sumter | Broken tortoise shell bones | 0.5-0.25 million years ago |
| Melbourne | Brevard | A skeleton of a mammoth was found, among other discoveries | 11,000-25,000 years ago |
| Moss Acres Racetrack | Marion | Horses and aquatic reptiles, such as turtles and alligators | 6-7 million years ago |
| Palmetto (a.k.a “Bone Valley”) | Polk | Sharks, rays, porcupine fish, horses, cormorants and turtles - one of the richest producers of vertebrate fossils in Florida | 5-4.5 million years ago |
| Tucker Borrow Pit | Brevard | Marine fish, freshwater turtles and alligators | 1.3-0.6 million years ago |
| Withlacoochee River 1A | Marion | Freshwater animals, small tortoise shell pieces and armadillo osteoderms | 1.9-2.2 million years ago |
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