Most residents and visitors know that Utah is a hotbed of dinosaur activity. The state is home to the expansive Dinosaur National Monument, the city of Vernal is nicknamed "Dinosaurland" and, fittingly, the Utahraptor is the state's official dinosaur.
But you don't have to travel for hours to catch a glimpse of prehistoric life—you can find a fair amount here in Salt Lake City. In fact, I've come across more than a dozen dinosaurs in various forms—ranging from lifelike replicas to cartoonish skeletons—just in the city limits alone.
The most famous by far is Rapty, the 6-foot-tall metal velociraptor that reigns over its 9th and 9th domain (upper left). That statue has been a staple in the area for decades now, even garnering a few newspaper articles with cheeky headlines when it briefly went missing 10 years ago.
Unfortunately, it's not the only dinosaur that has fallen victim to theft. Booker, the Brontosaurus outside the Sinclair gas station on 1300 East and 1700 South (upper right) was also uprooted and placed in a resident's backyard a few years back, only to be returned shortly thereafter. It seems like humans are the natural predators of fake dinosaurs.
In addition to full-size replicas, there are a lot of skulls scattered around town, too. My personal favorites are the colorful Rainbow Rex, fabricated by Bowerbird Art Studio, that has roamed out in the wild from Sugar House to Liberty Wells (bottom left) and the plastered triceratops—unique among dinosaur species I've spotted—that can be found on Fourth Avenue (bottom right).
(Editor's note: A fun T-Rex sculpture can also be found in Draper along the Porter Rockwell Trail near the current terminus of the Trax Blue Line.)
Of course, if you were wanting to see real dinosaur bones, a visit to the Natural History Museum of Utah at 301 Wakara Way in Research Park is a must-do. In addition to the countless fossils, skeletons and educational material on display, the museum is home to several family-friendly areas where kids can do their own exploration.
After honing their skills there, young paleontologists will be ready to venture out in the wild that is Salt Lake City. Who knows what they might find!
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