Near scattered farmhouses we may see logger-head shrikes; by one water tank we usually find a few killdeer. These and such birds as the long-billed curlew, upland sandpipers, and sharp-tailed grouse break the near monotony of such prairie birds as western meadowlarks (Nebraska’s state bird), lark buntings, horned larks, and chestnut-collared longspurs. Lark buntings line the utility wires, taking off to sing their territorial songs, and descending with butterfly-like motions.
Hawks are here—red-tails, Swainson’s, ferruginous, marsh, and the little American kestrel—but in small numbers. We search long rows of fence posts for a burrowing owl and occasionally see one. Great-horned owls frequent tall cottonwood trees around the Agate ranch buildings. This is also the country of turkey vultures, golden eagles, and prairie falcons, but we have not been lucky enough to see them yet.
Mammals are more elusive. Cattle pasture conspicuously on land formerly claimed by the buffalo (bison). We see pronghorns each year. A lone coyote is the only other relatively large mammal we have logged. Check a good mammal book and you will appreciate what lives here largely invisible to the untrained eye: shrews, moles, bats, cottontails and two kinds of jackrabbits, pocket gophers, prairie dogs, kangaroo rats, voles, several kinds of mice, two kinds of ground squirrel, muskrats, beaver, raccoons, minks, badgers, longtailed weasels, two kinds of skunks, occasional porcupines and bobcats, white-tailed deer, and mule deer. Consider yourself lucky if you see the swift fox, mountain lion, and the rare black-footed ferret.
Life abounds here in other forms less noticeable to eyes trained on the Breeding Bird Survey: various species of amphibians, reptiles, fish, and the numerous insects associated with grasslands. We hear perhaps too much about rattlesnakes—western Nebraska has only the prairie rattler, whose numbers are now much reduced. Other snakes include western hognosed, blue racer, bullsnake, and the plains, wandering, and red-sided garter snakes.
Collections of Agate Springs Fossils
Museums You Can Visit
Many museums throughout the world have displays of fossils from the Agate Fossil Beds. Very few of them actually collected their own material. Museum curators are dedicated “horse traders” and fossil-swapping is part of the business. When museums such as the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh or the American Museum of Natural History in New York make collections like the ones made at Agate earlier in this century, they usually have some trading stock left over after completing their study collections and exhibits. They then can trade an extra Menoceras slab, for example, for a dinosaur skeleton from some faraway corner of the Earth.
At several museums in this country you can see mounted skeletons of several animals found at Agate, along with Menoceras slabs (sections of rock with the bones still imbedded) or models and dioramas of Agate specimens. To the right are listed, in order of proximity to the park, some of the museums and their specimens from Agate.
The United States Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, has many fossils that depict the life of the most recent 65 million years and several murals by artist Jay H. Matternes showing the life of each of the epochs. The Miocene mural, reproduced on pages [20-21] of this handbook, is among these reconstructions. It depicts ancient life around what is today known as Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.
| The Trailside Museum Fort Robinson, Nebraska 69339. | |
 | Menoceras slab, skeleton, and restoration |
 | Stenomylus skeleton on a slab, and a prepared limb |
 | Palaeocastor in a Daemonelix Palaeocastor in a plaster cast |
Museum of Geology, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Rapid City, South Dakota 57701. | |
| | Menoceras slab, beautifully prepared |
The Geological Museum University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82070. | |
| | Menoceras, mounted skeleton |
| | Stenomylus slab containing most of a skeleton |
University of Nebraska State Museum 101 Morrill Hall, 14th and U Streets, Lincoln, Nebraska 68508. | |
 | Moropus, mounted skeleton |
| | Palaeocastor skeleton in a Daemonelix; also, two other Daemonelix |
| | Menoceras slab |
 | Dinohyus skeleton |
| | Stenomylus, a group of skeletons |
Field Museum of Natural History Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. | |
| | Menoceras slab |
| | Moropus skeleton |
The University of Michigan Exhibit Museum 1109 Geddes Rd., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104. | |
| | Menoceras slab and mounted skeleton |
| | Dinohyus eating dead Menoceras, a diorama |
| | Stenomylus skeleton and model |
Carnegie Museum 4400 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213. | |
 | Promerycochoerus slab |
| | Menoceras slab and mounted skeleton |
| | Moropus, mounted skeleton |
| | Dinohyus, mounted skeleton |
| | Stenomylus, three skeletons mounted in a group |
The American Museum of Natural History Central Park West and 79th St., New York, New York 10024. | |
| | Moropus skeleton |
| | Menoceras slab and skulls, one used in a sequence showing collecting and preparation techniques |
| | Dinohyus skull |
| | Stenomylus, nine skeletons and a reconstruction of the group in life |
Museum of Comparative Zoology Harvard University, Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. | |
| | Menoceras slab |
| | Dinohyus skeleton |
| | Stenomylus skeleton |