The Badlands of South Dakota in the west of the USA is a mysterious and hostile area that originated eighty million years ago when it was covered by a shallow ocean.

Today it is difficult to believe that this barren landscape was once fertile pastureland and home to a large number of prehistoric animals. It is only in a few areas where the soil is compact and contains a thin layer of humus that plants are able to grow and recreate the splendour of the region’s meadows of ancient times.

The Sioux Indians who once lived in this area called it, ‘Mako Sica’, ‘The Bad Land’.

The Badlands have also proved to be important for palaeontologists. The first people to discover bones here were the Lakota Indians and in the middle of the nineteenth century the region’s skulls, bones and fossils also caught the attention of various European settlers.

The outstanding Badlands of South Dakota not only boast a remarkable landscape but, without a doubt, are also extremely important for the conservation of wildlife.