Ancient High Plains History Aired previously on HPPR as part of High Plains History. View and hear the program archive below. Mike Everhart is our host on a virtual journey more than 85 million years "back in time" to observe some of the many strange and wonderful creatures that lived in the oceans of the Earth during the final stages of the Age of Dinosaurs. Mike has collected fossils from the Smoky Hill Chalk of western Kansas for the last thirty-plus years and has been an Adjunct Curator of Paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, Kansas since 1998. He was President (2005) of the Kansas Academy of Science, and now is the co-editor of the Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, one of the oldest science journals in the United States. Mike has written two acclaimed books about his work, Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep and Oceans of Kansas: Natural History of the Western Interior Sea. He also maintains the website Oceans of Kansas Paleontology through which you can contact him directly. Mike Everhart's work was the inspiration for the National Geographic IMax film "Sea Monsters". National Geographic chose Mike Everhart as their lead consultant on the film. Watch a trailer of the film here. Educators can find lesson plans and other classroom materials to use in conjunction with HPPR's Ancient High Plains History web audio here. Sign up for an automatic download of each new episode of Ancient High Plains History as part of HPPR's podcasts of its ongoing High Plains History program:  Podcast signup  Learn about HPPR Podcasts

Listen to recent Ancient High Plains History Episodes: Dinosaurs - Our final look back at the ocean that covered the High Plains during the Age of Dinosaurs reveals...DINOS!  (aired 07/29/09) Beach Combing - Summer is in full swing but the ocean front of the Cretaceous was very different from your vacation spot of today.  (aired 07/22/09) A sketch of what the shoreline of the Western Interior Sea may have looked like by early paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope. First Birds with Teeth - Not nearly as rare as hen's teeth, there were once milloins of birds with teeth filling the Western Interior Sea.  (aired 07/15/09) These birds still had teeth in their jaws, but probably behaved much like modern penguins.  Their fossils are much more common in Late Cretacsous marine deposits north of Kansas. The Giant Ginsu Sharks - Ever wonder where those fantastic TV knives got their name?  Forget about Ron Popeil, Mike will give us the real deal.  (aired 07/08/09) This rather dramatic picture by Dan Varner, shows a large Cretoxyrhina mantelli shark taking a bite out of a juvenile Tylosaurus. The Mosasaurs - Big hungry sea Llzards are looking for a meal.  What's on the menu?  Chef Mike has something cooking for the biggest appitite.  (aired 07/01/09) Paleolife-Artist Dan Varner has created an epic battle between a Mosasaur and an early crocodile. Fish Within a Fish - What's world famous and was literally stumbled upon in a Kansas pasture?  Mike will tell us today. (aired 06/24/09) Early Paleontology - If you think you have a hard commute, just imagine transporting fragile fossils by horse-drawn-wagon! (aired 06/17/09) The Sternberg family collecting a Xiphactinus fossil by horse-drawn-wagon.  Photo courtesy of the Forsyth Library, Fort Hays State University. Early Paleontologist B.F. Mudge - Mike introduces us to one of the pioneers in Paleontology, Benjamin F. Mudge. (aired 06/10/09) Photograph from the frontispiece of the University Geological Survey of Kansas, vol. 2 with the following notation by S. W. Williston: "To the memeory of Prof. Benjamin F. Mudge, the first State Geologist of Kansas, An excellent teacher, a faithful friend, an honest man." Discovery of Elasmosaurus - There is a monster in the deep waters of the Western Interior Sea that may cause you to abandon your summer beach party.  (aired 06/03/09) The Chalk in Gove County Kansas as it looks today. Kansas Fossils - Mike Everhart spills the beans on a well-kept secret of the High Plains.  (aired 5/27/09) A map of Kansas showing the surface and sub-surface distribution of the remaining Cretaceous rocks.  This fossil poster is available from the web site Kansas Geological Survey. Early Oceans and Natural Resources - How the High Plains of today is due to the Oceans of yesterday.  (aired 5/20/09) A map of Kansas showing the surface and sub-surface distribution of the remaining Cretaceous rocks.  Adapted from the Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin 162: 1963. An Ocean Covered the High Plains? - What do you mean an ocean covered the High Plains?  Where did it go?  (aired 5/13/09) Dan Varner uses his original paleolife-art to illustrate some of the marine creatures from the Late Cretaceous whose remains are found in the Smoky Hill Chalk and Pierre Shale of Kansas.  Copyright Dan Varner, and may not be used in any form without his written permission. The Western Interior Sea - High Plains History is going way back in time when our land was very different looking. In fact, there was no land!  (aired 5/6/09) A generalized map of the North American continent during late Cretaceous time. The Western Interior Sea covered most of the Midwest from the present Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic.  Map modified from an exhibit at the University of Nebraska State Museum.