Fredericksburg Parent

40 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • July 2023 Have you ever walked on soft sand, left a sneaker mark in slick mud, or marched in deep snow? Dinosaurs made foot- prints in the ground just like we do. 112-million-year-old dinosaur footprints can be found in rocks all throughout the Fredericksburg region and at the Fredericksburg Area Museum's (FAM) newest exhibit, Stomp: FXBC. Visitors of all ages can come and see eleven differ- ent dinosaur tracks from Spotsylvania and Stafford Counties. These dinosaurs walked around the places where we live, play, go to school and work. They were meat-eaters and plant-eaters and came in all differ- ent shapes and sizes. FAM's largest dinosaur footprint belonged to the Astrodon Johnsoni: a 40-foot tall, 70-foot-long animal that weighed up to 30 tons. This long-necked plant-eater was so tall that it would not have fit in FAM's three-story building! The smallest print is named after a local amateur paleontologist, Jon Bachman, who discovered and donated all the tracks to the museum. The Tyrannosaur Bachmanni is a five-foot tall meat-eating dinosaur. If this dinosaur sounds famil- iar, it's because the Tyrannosaur Bachmanni is related to the more famous and popular Tyrannosaurus Rex. Fredericksburg's footprints are the only evidence from the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago) in Virginia. You won't see large skeletons or teeth in the exhibit because they were rarely preserved in the Fredericksburg area or Virginia. Discover Dinosaurs WRITTEN BY THERESA CRAMER 40 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • July 2023 40 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • July 2023 40 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • July 2023 At Scheduling Your Visit! Come discover dinosaur at FAM (907 Princess Anne St)! The museum is open Thursday – Tuesday from 10am- 5pm. Tickets are $5 per person. Children under the age of 5 are free. Monday is free admis- sion for all visitors. Visit famva.org/ for more information! STOMP: FXBC is generously sponsored by Fort, LLC.

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