Dinosaurs, reptiles, microbes and more: Check out NJ's most bizarre official state symbols
New Jersey has a lot of official state symbols, perhaps more than you'd expect.
State flag? Obviously. State bird? You bet. State microbe? Also, surprisingly, yes.
According to the official website of the state of New Jersey, there are 17 official state symbols that represent the state's cultural heritage.
Besides the common ones like the state flag — and predictable ones — the state flower, violet — here are some others that are a bit out of the ordinary.
New Jersey State Dinosaur: Hadrosaurus foulkii
Jurassic Park lovers, this one is for you. This dinosaur wandered the forests and swamps along the bays of New Jersey's ancient seacoast during the Cretaceous Period, a geological period lasting about 145 to 66 million years, about 80 million years ago. The duckbilled dinosaur stood 10 feet tall, 25 feet long, and weighed 8 tons.
Hadrosaurus was discovered in 1858 by Fossil hobbyist William Parker Foulke. In 1868, it became the first mounted dinosaur skeleton.
Hadrosaurus foulkii became the official state dinosaur of New Jersey in 1991.
New Jersey State Reptile: Bog Turtle
You won't catch a glimpse of this turtle in Monmouth or Ocean county as their primary location remains in rural Northern parts of the state due to habitat loss. In 1974 the bog turtle was listed as an endangered species and in 1997, was listed as a federally threatened species.
The bog turtle is a tiny, dark turtle with a distinct orange patch behind its ears and is one of the smallest and most secretive of North America’s turtles.
There are 168 known bog turtle populations making NJ one of the strongholds in the bog turtle’s range. The bog turtle became the official state reptile of New Jersey in 2018.
New Jersey State Shell: The Knobbed Whelk
This shell is commonly known as a conch shell. But not to be mistaken for the same conch that lives in Tropical waters. It can be found along beaches and bays of New Jersey. The knobbed whelks are marine snail that lives in a shell.
It is large, solid, and pear-shaped, coiling from left to right. The Knobbed Whelk is a popular shell as it's also the official state seashell of Georgia, Texas, and Delaware.
The knobbed Whelk became the official state shell of New Jersey in 1995.
New Jersey State Tall Ship: The A.J. Meerwald
When you think of symbols a tall ship does not come to mind. But we have one. The A.J. Meerwald was a Delaware Bay Oyster Schooner, a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig, built in 1928 to meet the needs of New Jersey's oyster dredging.
The former schooner offers public sails, charter sails, and education sails along the Bay area and the Atlantic Coast and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995
The A.J. Meerwald became the official state tall ship of New Jersey in 1995.
New Jersey State Dance: Square Dance
Square dancing in New Jersey seems rather odd since it is widely popular in the western states, but in the 1980s folks loved to do-si-dos with their partner.
The square dance is the state folk dance in 22 other states and has had 30 bills introduced federally proposing it as the national folk dance of the United States.
The Square Dance became the official American Folk Dance of the State of New Jersey in 1983.
New Jersey State Microbe: Streptomyces griseus
Out of all of the state symbols, having a microbe takes the cake. But in a good way. The Streptomyces griseus microbe, an organism of microscopic size, was discovered in New Jersey soil in 1916. Researchers from Rutgers University used the microbe to create the antibiotic streptomycin in 1943.
The microbe that created the antibiotic was able to treat Tuberculosis patients and death rates in the U.S. dropped. New Jersey is the second state to have a microbe, and the first to have an official bacterium.
The Streptomyces griseus became the official state microbe of New Jersey in 2019.
New Jersey State Song
There are more symbols but one New Jersey lacks is more surprising.
New Jersey is the only state without a state song. At one point state senators introduced a bill for five state songs.
The state song: "I'm From New Jersey" by Red Mascara
The State Anthem: "New Jersey My Home" by Patrick Finley
The State Children's Song: "In New Jersey," by Terre McPheeters, and lyrics by the 1996 class at the Van Holten School in Bridgewater
The State Ballad: "New Jersey, U.S.A." by Nelson Trout
The State Popular Song: "Be Proud to Be in New Jersey" by Mark and Ellen Winter
In 1980 Assembly passed a bill naming Springsteen’s “Born to Run" as the state song but it did not pass in the Senate.
This state birthed musical icons like Whitney Houston, Dione Warrick, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Queen Latifah, Lauryn Hill, Frank Sinatra, and the jazz legend Count Basie, and still, no official state song.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Weird NJ: New Jersey State symbols that make you go hmmmm
