Ultracold dysprosium gases, with a magnetic moment ten times that of alkali atoms and equal only to terbium as the most magnetic atom, are expected to exhibit a multitude of fascinating collisional dynamics and quantum dipolar phases, including quantum liquid crystal physics. We report the first laser cooling and trapping of half a billion Dy atoms using a repumper-free magneto-optical trap (MOT) and continuously loaded magnetic confinement, and we characterize the trap recycling dynamics for bosonic and fermionic isotopes. The first inelastic collision measurements in the few partial wave, 100 µK-1 mK, regime are made in a system possessing a submerged open electronic f-shell. In addition, we observe unusual stripes of intra-MOT < 10 µK sub-Doppler cooled atoms.PACS numbers: 37.10. De, 37.10.Gh, 37.10.Vz, 71.10.Ay Ultracold gases of extraordinarily magnetic atoms, such as dysprosium, offer opportunities to explore strongly correlated matter in the presence of the longrange, anisotropic dipole-dipole interaction (DDI). Such interactions in the presence (or absence) of polarizing fields can compete with short-range interactions to induce phases beyond those described by the nearest neighbor Hubbard model [1]. Specifically, quantum liquid crystal (QLC) physics (see Ref.[2] and citations within) describes strongly correlated systems in which a Fermi surface can spontaneously distort (nematics) or cleave into stripes (smectics) [3]. While material complexity can inhibit full exploration of QLC phases in condensed matter, QLC phases may be more extensively characterized in tunable ultracold gases. In contrast to ultracold ground state polar molecules [4], ultracold Dy offers the ability to explore the spontaneously broken symmetries inherent in QLCs since the DDI is realized without a polarizing field. An exciting prospect lies in observing spontaneous magnetization in dipolar systems, e.g., the existence of a quantum ferro-nematic phase in ultracold fermionic Dy gases not subjected to a polarizing field [5].We report the first magneto-optical trap (MOT) and ultracold collisional rates of this highly complex atom. The stable atoms possessing the largest magnetic moments are the neighboring lanthanide rare-earths, Tb and Dy (both 10 Bohr magnetons (µ B ) to within 0.6% [6,7]). Prior to the present work, the coldest Dy temperatures were achieved via buffer gas and adiabatic cooling to 50 mK with final densities of < 10 9 cm −3 [8], and Dy beams have been transversely pushed and unidirectionally cooled via photon scattering [9,10].Recent experiments using degenerate 52 Cr, a bosonic S-state atom with 6 µ B of magnetic moment, have begun to explore quantum ferrofluids [12]. With suitable scattering lengths, the larger magnetic moment-and 9× larger DDI·mass ratio-of Dy should allow experimental access beyond the superfluid and Mott insulator regions of the extended Bose-Hubbard phase diagram to the density wave and supersolid regimes [13]. Co-trapping iso- In addition, ultracold samples of Dy will aid precision measure...