Mignon Talbot and the Discovery of Podokesaurus
Discovery of Podokesaurus
“I have found a real live fossil!” –Mignon Talbot
Mignon was walking with her sister near Mount Holyoke in 1910 when she made an incredible discovery. By chance, Mignon spotted a dinosaur skeleton embedded in a sandstone boulder. She was the first woman to find a nearly complete dinosaur skeleton, which she described as Podokesaurus holyokensis in 1911. The only specimen was destroyed in a fire in 1916, and no other specimens of the dinosaur have ever been found. In 2021, residents of Massachusetts selected Podokesaurus holyokensis to be the state dinosaur.
How do we know what Podokesaurus and other ancient animals looked like when they were alive?
The story of Mignon Talbot’s discovery of Podokesaurus is told in PRI’s 2017 children’s book Daring to Dig: Adventures of Women in American Paleontology by Beth Stricker and illustrated by Alana McGillis.
Image from Daring to Dig: Adventures of Women in American Paleontology about Mignon Talbot and the discovery of Podokesaurus.
In the video below, Daring to Dig’s Alana McGillis explains how paleoartists reconstruct the appearances of dinosaurs like Podokesaurus. Alana also shows the steps for drawing your own Podokesaurus! (download PDF).
Learn more about Mignon Talbot
Selected works by Mignon Talbot
Talbot, M. 1911. Podokesaurus holyokensis, a new dinosaur from the Triassic of the Connecticut Valley. American Journal of Science S4-31: 469–479. https://doi.org/10.2475/ajs.s4-31.186.469
Talbot, M. 1922. The Department of Geology. Mt. Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly 6: 128–132.
Biographical references & further reading
Berta, A., and S. Turner. 2020. Rebels, scholars, explorers: Women in vertebrate paleontology. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Contreras, C. 2021. Mass. makes its pick for state dinosaur: Podokesaurus holyokensis; Lewis files legislation. Milford Daily News, 4 February 2021. https://www.milforddailynews.com/story/news/2021/02/04/mass-makes-its-pick-state-dinosaur-podokesaurus-holyokensis/4396749001/
Haff, J.C., 1952, Memorial to Mignon Talbot. Geological Society of America Annual Report for 1951, p. 157–158.
Turner, S., C.V. Burek, and R.T. Moody. 2010. Forgotten women in an extinct saurian (man’s) world. In R.T.J. Moody, E. Buffetaut, D. Naish, and D.M. Martill, eds. Dinosaurs and other extinct saurians: A historical perspective. Geological Society, London, Special Publications 343: 111–153. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP343.7