BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK

rugged, eroded area (379 square miles [982 square km]) of nonporous clay that washes into gullies, buttes, and saw-toothed divides, in southwestern South Dakota, U.S. It was established as a national monument in 1939 and redesignated in 1978. It lies mostly between the Cheyenne and White rivers, 40 miles (65 km) southeast of Rapid City. The park contains numerous fossil beds that have yielded the remains of such animals as the three-toed horse, camel, sabre-toothed tiger, and rhinoceros. The badlands are almost devoid of vegetation, but there are prairie grasslands in the park that are inhabited by bison, bighorn sheep, coyotes, prairie dogs, and jackrabbits.