Diggs County

DinoLand, U.S.A.'s entrance

Hester

**Diggs County** is a fictional county from *Disney's Animal Kingdom* and the attraction *Dinosaur (Countdown to Extinction)*.

## Description

Diggs County is a county along the state-border of Florida which during the Cretaceous period held a large number of dinosaurs that were well preserved following the K-T Extinction Event. Millenia later it would become a hot-spot for palaeontologist activity. The crest of Diggs County were two crossed shovels with a single star.

### Features

#### DinoLand, U.S.A.

DinoLand, U.S.A was a roadside town along Route 498 which were serve as home of the Dino Institute. The town itself would turn into a dinosaur themed tourist trap to try and capitalize on the traffic brought by the Dino Institute.

* **The Boneyard**: The Boneyard is an excavation site where the remains of prehistoric life are extracted from the earth.
* **Chester & Hester's Dino-Rama**: The Dino-Rama is a tourist-trap amusement-park which was founded by an old married couple named Chester & Hester who ran the town gas-station then began profiteering from dinosaur oriented tourism. They were frugal in their business-dealings and made the park in a parking-lot and contained incredibly lacklustre attractions.
* **College**: DinoLand, U.S.A. is in the vicinity of a college from which the Dino Institute finds many working-class diggers.
* **Cretaceous Trail**: Cretaceous Trail is a nature trail outside of the Dino Institute which is home to Mesozoic plant-life and sculptures of different dinosaurs (albeit several are considerably outdated). It is run by the Dino Institute.
* **Dino Institute**: The Dino Institute is a building which houses the prestigious organization of the same name. In-addition to making several notable discoveries in the field of archaeology, teamed up with the company *ChronoTech* to create the time-traveling *CTX Time Rovers*. These rovers are used for on-site study of dinosaurs along with tours to acquire additional funds for the institute.
* **Oldengate Bridge**: The Oldengate Bridge was a metallic bridge connecting to the Boneyard. The bridge was created with the bone cast of a brachiosaurus which were replicas of those found in Colorado in 1900 and which are located in Chicago's Field Museum.
* **Theatre in the Wild**: Theatre in the Wild is an indoor theatre which has housed live shows such as *Journey into the Jungle Book*, *Tarzan Rocks!*, and *Finding Nemo - The Musical*.

### Fauna

#### Late-Cretaceous

In the late Cretaceous, the region which would become Diggs County held a large number of dinosaurs. Oddly, despite Florida having been located far up in the Northern hemisphere during the Cretaceous, Diggs County held a tropical rainforest. Additionally, many of the prehistoric creatures which lived there were not native to the U.S.A., Florida, disappeared from the fossil record before the K-T Extinction, and looked considerably different than they are known to look in reality.

* **Alioramus**: Aliorasmus was a carnivorous theropod dinosaur which preyed on fairly large animals such as Brachychampsa.
	+ Aliorasmus is only known to have inhabited modern Mongolia and is believed to have gone extinct long before the K-T Extinction Event. Aliorasmus is also believed to have had feathers or some sort of plumage due to its avian genetics and many close relative species of it having been found with fossilized feathers while in the attraction it is shown only covered in scales.
* **Brachychampsa**: Brachychampsa was not a dinosaur but rather a crocodilian which was native to North America and which had a plated back. It was frequent prey of the Alioramus.
* **Cearadactylus**: Referred to as, "Pterodactyl" by the Dino Institute computers (Pterodactyl being a genus, not a species), Cearadactylus was a species of pterosaur which primarily inhabited South America but likely migrated to modern Diggs County by air. Contrary to popular belief, they are not dinosaurs and evolved separately from them.
	+ The Cearadactylus in the attraction do not have the plumage of feathers and/or proto-feathers which real-world Cearadactylus would have no-doubt had to combat the freezing air they would have constantly been exposed to moving at high speeds through high-altitudes.

* **Carnotaurus Robustus floridaensis**: An alleged sub-species of Carnotaur which was native to Florida as opposed to South America (which at the time was separated from North America by about 3 seas).  Despite being claimed to be a Carnotaur, its only similarities to the animal were in its having bumpy skin and the same skull while the rest of its body was identical to that of a theropod dinosaur of which Carnotaur were not a member nor related, having evolved separately from them in the then isolated South America. This, "Carnotaurus" was an apex predator which stalked the jungles of Diggs County with ravenous hunger and intensity.
* **Compsognathus**:
* **Iguanodon**:
* **Parasaurolophus**:
* **Saltasaurus**:
* **Styracosaurus**:
* **Tyrannosaurus Rex**:
* **Velociraptor**:
	+ Diggs County's velociraptors had no feathers which velociraptors are known to have had. Additionally, velociraptors are only truly known to have lived in Mongolia.

## History

DinoLand, U.S.A. was original a roadside town along Route 498 until the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex was found in Diggs County in 1947, resulting in an influx of paleontological activity. In 1949 this lead to the founding of the Dino Institute which was focused in the field of palaeontology. This success in the paleontological field resulted in town locals turning the town into a dinosaur-themed tourist-trap by the name of DinoLand, U.S.A.. The couple Chester and Hester which ran the Sinclair gas-station became particularly successful from this, founding the amusement park, "Chester & Hester's Dino-Rama".

In the 1990s, they were run by one Dr. Helen Marsh who advanced the Dino Institute. She would buy out the experimental science company known as Chrono-Tech which was attempting to develop time-travel. With Dino Institute funding, Chrono-Tech managed to invent the time-machines known as the *CTX Time Rovers* which the Dino Institute used for paleontological field-studies. Marsh would go on to open the Dino Institute to the public and offer prehistoric safaris in the Time Rovers so that the institute could gain additional funding.

At some point in time, Dr. Grant Seeker hacked into a standard Time-Rover tour and took them moments before the K-T Extinction Event to extract an Iguanodon which he had put a tracker on in a previous expedition. This impromptu field mission turned nightmarish quickly with guests being hunted down by a Floridian Carnotaurus and only narrowly escaping the impact of the Chicxulub meteor. The rovers were brought back along with the probed iguanodon which would go on to wreck havoc throughout the institute; the ramifications of this event for those involved are unknown.

## Connections

### EPCOT

In *Chester & Hester's Dinosaur Treasures* is a sign which reads, " When in Florida be sure to visit EPCOT ".

### Up

Several of the missions in the Wilderness Explorers game pertain to the *Dino Institute* which is the organization responsible for the attraction. Of note there is the Dinosaur Badge has guests assisting in excavation within Diggs County's, "Boneyard". This establishes Diggs County as being one of the outposts for the Wilderness Explorers.

## Trivia

* Diggs County, Anandapur, Harambe, and the Valley of Mo'ara are all fictitious settings in Disney's Animal Kingdom used for the theming of its different, "Lands".
* The Theatre of the Wild is also featured in Hong Kong Disneyland's Adventureland where it notably hosted Horrors of the Amazon and Festival of the Lion King.

## References

1. ↑ http://disneyshawn.blogspot.com/2009/11/welcome-to-diggs-county.html
2. ↑ http://www.mainstgazette.com/2009/09/us-498.html
3. ↑ https://allears.net/2009/08/02/chester-and-hesters-dino-rama/
4. ↑ https://wdwthemeparks.com/entertainment/oldengate-bridge/
5. ↑ https://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/countdown-to-extinction/gallery/01jul1998-countdown-to-extinction-photos/2708.htm
6. ↑ https://celebrationspress.com/2020/04/19/a-brief-history-of-diggs-county-in-dinoland-usa/
7. ↑ http://www.fromscreentotheme.com/FunFindFridayDinoland2.aspx