Tyrannosaurus rex might have made other dinosaurs tremble in fear, but some South Dakota legislators weren’t impressed by a plan to make the big meat-eater the state dinosaur.
Noting that the triceratops is already honored as the official state fossil, state Sen. Brock Greenfield called Sen. Stan Adelstein’s T. rex campaign “ridiculous” and another example of an out-of-control frenzy of state symbol designation.
“The state sport is now rodeo, even though participation in it isn’t near as great as other sports,” Greenfield said. “We established fry bread as the state bread, even though most people don’t know what it is.”
South Dakota isn’t alone in its fondness for naming obscure symbols. Minnesota has a state muffin, Virginia a state bat, New Mexico a state cookie, Mississippi a state reptile.
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