Paleontology
The fossils found in the park date from The Age of Mammals, including ancestors of the modern day rhinoceros, horse, dog, and others. Fossilized sea shells and turtle shells have also been found in the park. There are no dinosaur fossils in the park.
Approximately 30 million years ago the area was warmer and lush. Many mammals roamed the area and died in floods and quickly buried in sediment, providing an abundance of vertebrate fossils.
Digging and/or moving fossils or artifacts from their locations in the ground is prohibited by Federal law. Offenders are subject to heavy fines and possibly jail.
Fire
The park's goal of maintaining the prairie ecosystem requires using fire. Park visitors, however, should not start any fires anywhere in the park.
Geology
The badlands are formed by water and wind erosion, losing about an inch 2.54 centimeters a year. About five millions years ago the land uplifted and triggered the erosion proccesses that created the badlands.
Climate
The park is windy. Summers are hot and winters are cold.
Winter begins in November, although blizzards in late October may occur. High temperatures around 40° F 4.4° C with lows below 0° F -18° C and high winds creating much lower windchill. Snow is likely and blizzards are possible.
March is difficult. Temperatures may fluctuate dramatically within a few hours. Blizzards are still possible, and so is 60° F 15.5° C weather.
Spring begins in April. With snow melting and April rains, the park is very wet. The unpaved roads can be difficult or impossible to pass and trails may be slippery and unpleasant. Temperatures at night is typically below freezing. The park receives most of its rain between April and June. Showers may be brief or last for days.
July is hot and dry. Daytime temperatures can surpass 90° F 32° C.
August is the hottest when temperatures can break 100° F 38° C. Evenings are about 75° F 24° C.
In September the temperatures begin to cool off in the second half of the month.
October is much cooler although a few days may break 80° F 27° C.
Natural history
During the youth of the Rocky Mountains, about 60 million years ago, large number of streams carried eroded soil, rock and other materials eastward from the range. These materials were deposited on the vast lowlands which are today called the Great Plains. Dense vegetation grew in these lowlands, then fell into swamps, and was later buried by new layers of sediments. Millions of years later, this plant material turned into lignite coal. Some of the plant life became petrified, and we can find large amounts of exposed petrified wood in the badlands. While sediments continued to be deposited, more streams cut down through the soft rock layers, carving the variety of mesas, buttes, rock formations, pinnacles, spires and valleys are the features of the badlands seen today.
Human history
For eleven thousand years humans used the area for hunting. They hunted bison, rabbits, and other animals.
Fossils hunters arrived after the 1840s. Trappers traveling from Fort Pierre to Fort Laramie collected fossils. One fossil ended up being described in the American Journal of Science. Within decades new species were being discovered.
Homesteaders arrived at the end of the 19th century and the US government removed the natives from their land. This culminated in the massacre at Wounded Knee, which is approximately 45 miles south of the park in the Pine Ridge Reservation.
The Dust Bowl of the 1930s prompted many homesteaders to move elsewhere. Some who stayed are still there today.
The United States Air Force took possession of more than 340,000 acres of the Pine Ridge Reservation and about 340 acres of what was then Badlands National Monument and used it extensively between 1942 and 1945 as a gunnery range. This is now the Stronghold unit of the park and is co-managed with the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Unexploded ordnance remains in the area.
Flora and fauna
While the badlands terrain may appear to be barren, there is a great variety of wildlife and plant life here. The minimal annual precipitation feeds the grasses and wildflowers of the badlands. The brilliant colors of the blooms add to the palette of grays, browns, reds, ochres and greens of the land. The wildlife includes nearly two hundred species of birds, mule and white tail deer, prairie dogs, pronghorn, big horn sheep, and bison. Other mammals in the park include bats, rabbits, and coyotes. The park has reintroduced the black footed ferret, the most endangered land mammal in North America, to the Sage Creek Wilderness area. Reptiles and amphibians include frogs, toads, and snakes.