Badlands South Dakota - Travel Video.

DVD. Nature Parks. In the southwest of the state of South Dakota is a mysterious-looking landscape that is rugged, sparse and a surreal-looking desert of rock that is colorfully known as the Badlands. For around 500,000 years, the forces of wind, air and water have gradually shaped the mighty rocks that appear like huge walls across the Badlands. In some places, the rock walls look like miniature mountains and everywhere one looks, there are fascinating rock formations. In addition, it is the many colors contained within the rock that also focus the attention. Conversely, the Badlands Prairie features a large variety of grasses that are only to be found in this region of North America. Between the scattered rocks are a total of 56 varieties of grass that combine to form an ecological system that is unique in the world. Paleontologists also benefit from the weather beaten terrain of South Dakota as the southwest region also features several fossil excavation sites. Remains of the original ancestors of the horse, the Mesohippus, have been discovered in the Badlands as well as the petrified bones of carnivores such as the Creodonten and various now-extinct turtles. Badlands may be its name but in no way does it describe the unspoiled magnificence of its truly unique and spectacular scenery.