ExTINcT! - Coral Springs

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Before James Hunt built the Covered Bridge
and named the city Coral Springs in 1963...
Before Henry Lyons planted thousands
of green beans on thousands of acres
in Broward County starting in 1919...��
1845
U.S. Flag
with 27
Stars
blue
LEAV
LONE
E US A
orange
red
white
green
The first Florida flag was used at the
inauguration of Governor William Mosely
red
white
red
The Florida State flag used today was
adopted in 1900.
Long before Florida became a State in 1845...
Even before Ponce de Leon discovered land
on Easter Day in 1513 and named it “La Florida”
the “Land of Flowers” ....
Whereʼs Disney World?
lina
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a
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Alabama
Georgia
Florida
ngs
Coral Spri
210 million years ago, the entire peninsula
of Florida was under water, so no Dinosaurs
of the Jurassic Period visited. This was before
written history, a time called prehistoric.
River
Mullins Park
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10,000 years ago, when the water receded, the
Dinosaurs had all died and were extinct. It was now the
age of mammals, the Cenozoic Age. They migrated all
over Florida including a place now called Mullins Park,
where there was a river.
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C
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These mammals were very different from their
descendants. They were much BIGGER
as Coral the cat will illustrate.
This 17-foot Giant Ground Sloth (Megatherium)
was the largest land mammal to live in Florida,
and is the official State Extinct Animal. The Giant
Ground Sloth grew as tall as a house and weighed
6 tons. It was a herbivore and ate tree leaves and
branches while sitting on its tail like a kangaroo.
shoes
shoes
shoes
Mastodons were 8-foot-tall herbivores and ate leaves
off of tree branches. They had large tusks.
Their molars were the size of shoe boxes.
They grew 6 sets of teeth over a 60-year period.
The Giant Armadillo (Glyptodont) was the size
of a Volkswagen Beetle automobile and looked
like a small tank. It was a reptile and layed eggs.
It was also a herbivore and ate coarse vegetation.
The Terror Bird (Titanis) couldnʼt fly, but at 7 feet tall
and at a speed of 70 miles per hour, it did not need
to fly to find food. They ate anything that moved
except Saber-Tooth Cats. The cats were
their predator, and ate them.
The Saber-Tooth Cat (Smilodon) was about the size
of a modern lion, but weighed 400 pounds.
Its tail was shorter but its fangs were nine inches
long. It was a carnivore, and ate mastodons,
horses, bison and Titanis.
Mammoths stood 14 feet high and ate about 700
pounds of veggies a day. They had 10-foot tusks to dig
up food and scare off enemies. Some tusks had flat
sides that might show the mammoth was “left tusked” or
“right tusked,” like being left-handed or right-handed.
The Alligator (Alligator Mississippienis) might
look familiar, but 10,000 years ago they were
13 to 15 feet long. They had over 80 teeth.
When they wore out, new ones would grow, as many
as 2,000 - 3,000 in a lifetime.
Camels (Camelids) came in several sizes from
12-foot Giraffe Camels that ate leaves from treetops,
to tall slender varieties that ate grass.
They might not have had humps.
Llamas (Paleolama) stood 6� feet tall with 2 toes
on each foot. They were grazers and had a split
upper lip which let them spit with great accuracy.
They migrated to South America.
Horses (Equus) were the size of Greyhounds.
Some migrated west across the Bering Strait through
Asia and Europe. The ones that remained became
extinct. When the Spanish came to explore America,
they brought descendants of the horse.
Tapirs (Tapiradae) are descendants of horses.
They had long flexible noses like a Mammothʼs trunk.
They used them for browsing and maybe fishing,
as they liked the water.
Short-Faced Cave Bears (Arctoduc Simus) had shorter
bodies, longer legs, and bigger feet, the better to run
fast and catch more animals to eat.
Guess where they lived?
The Opossum (Didelphis) is the only marsupial in
North America. The female carries babies in her
pouch. When they get too big, they sit on her back.
They all migrated to South America, but came back.
They use their prehensile tails to grab and hold
objects, or just hang upside down.
All of these animals are extinct!
Only their smaller descendants survived. So how
do we know the big ones lived in Mullins Park?
The Apple Snail tells us.
Apple snails
only live
in fresh bones
water like
river for
People
who found
prehistoric
herethe
looked
inApple
Mullins
Park.
So, people
whothat
found
prehistoric
Snail
shells.
It proved
they
found the
bones
and of
also
found
Apple Snail
shells
knew
skeletons
land
creatures.
These
snails
onlythey
live in
were
looking
atlike
land-based
bones.
fresh
water,
the rivermammal
in Mullins
Park�
Apple Snails are still living today in fresh water
in the Everglades, and are a favorite snack
for Alligators. They are the only creature that
has stayed the same size over 10,000 years.
Help the Apple Snail find her eggs.
Word Search
Prehistoric Coral Springs
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How to play:
All the words listed below appear in the puzzle —
horizontally, vertically, diagonally, even backward!
ALLIGATOR
CENOZOIC
LLAMA
OPOSSUM
TAPIR
ARMADILLO
EXTINCT
MAMMOTH
PREHISTORIC
TITANIS
CAMEL
HORSE
MASTODON
SLOTH
TORTOISE
CAPYBARA
JAGUAR
MULLINS
SMILODON
A walk in the Park
10,000 years ago...
Across
Down
5.
6.
8.
9.
11.
13.
15.
16.
1.
2.
3.
4.
6.
7.
10.
12.
14.
Descendants live in Coral Springs canals
Where wild things were
Big Bird
Early Elephant
Age of mammals
One hump or two
All gone
Big cat
Long-nosed mammal
It now lives in Peru
Before written history
Babies ride on momʼs back
Early four-tusked elephant
Grew as big as a Volkswagen
Equus
Lived in a cave
Giant-sized
Extinct!
We would like to give recognition
to the volunteers of the City of Coral Springs
Historical Advisory Committee
for their wonderful ideas and edits, especially
Vice Mayor Roy Gold, Janis Humpage, Steve Scali, Rachel Galvin,
Barbara Wolf, Al Nigro and Gina Orlando (homo sapiens).
Thanks to Janis Humpage
for the word search and snail maze puzzles,
and to her cat Miki (felis domestica),
model for Coral the Cat.
Appreciation to the
Communications and Marketing Department
including Traci Parrish, whose charming
line drawings brought the extinct animals
of prehistoric Mullins Park to life,
and to Christine Parkinson Jahrsdoerfer
for directing the project.
Written by:
Wendy Wangberg
Illustrations:
Traci Parrish
Janis Humpage
Paul Briggs
This Activity Book belongs to:
____________________________________
City of Coral Springs
9551 West Sample Road
Coral Springs, Florida 33065
www.coralsprings.org/history