Dinosaurs

Question 1

What happened in 2010?

Answer 1

The royal society included Mary Anning in their list of 10 women who have most influenced the history of science

Question 2

When was the first Ichthyosaur discovered?

Answer 2

1811

Question 3

When was the first Plesiosaur skeleton discovered?

Answer 3

1821

Question 4

Who is also known as “The Dinosaur Doctor”?

Answer 4

Gideon Mantell (1790-1852)

Question 5

Who were the first people to suggest dinosaur extinction?

Answer 5

George Cuvier & William Buckland

Question 6

Who established the British Natural Museum?

Answer 6

Richard Owen

Question 7

Which american discovered and named 56 dinosaurs?

Answer 7

Edward Drinker Cope

Question 8

Which american discovered and named 86 dinosaurs?

Answer 8

Othniel Charles Marsh

Question 9

When did dinosaurs disappear?

Answer 9

65MYA

Question 10

What characteristics do we know about Pterodactyls?

Answer 10

• Between a few inches and over 40 feet
• Hollow bones
• Large brains
• Leathery wings

Question 11

What dinosaur is considered the largest flier ever?

Answer 11

Quetzalcoatlus

Question 12

What are the major dinosaur groups? Briefly describe.

Answer 12

Stegasuria: Head the size of a horse, brain the size of a walnut; Plates for defence?; 2 rows of 17 bony plates; Brain in its tail?; Cavity adjacent to spinal cord near hips; About 20x larger than brain cavity

Ankylosaurs: Tank-like; Heavily armoured; One of the last to be alive; Tail-club - Decoy head- defensive weapon

Marginocephalia: Large quadrupeds; Large crest; Variable size and horns; Large beak; Capable of slicing through tough vegetation

Ornithopoda: Large group of herbivores; Bipedal; Fast runners; 3 toes; Duck beaks; Very abundant dinosaurs

Sauropoda: Tail for counterbalancing the long neck; Big gut for digestion of lots of plant material; Tiny head and brain; Long neck for grazing; Four columnar legs; Largest land animals; Geographically widespread; Herbivores

Therapoda: Big, sharp teeth in scissor-like jaw; All hollow bones, vertebrae & limbs; Tail for counterbalancing the neck and head; short head and claws for grasping prey; Long back legs for spread; Alive today as birds; Carnivores; Obligate bipeds

Herrerasauria: Earliest known; Carnivorous; Small arms; relatively small; >1m tall; 6m long; weighed 300kg; Extinct by the end of the Triassic

Ceratosaurus: Huge head; horn on snout; hornlets above eyes; long, flat teeth; osteoderms on back; small but strong arms

Tetanurans: Large; Carnivorous; Long thigh bones; Narrow pointed faces

Tyrannosaurids: Up to 40 feet long; 15-20 feet tall; 3 feet arms; weighed 5-7 tonnes; Skull 5 feet; Eyeball 3” in diameter; Jaws were up to 4 feet; 50 to 60 bone-crunching teeth - up to 9” tooth regrowth

Question 13

Briefly describe velociraptor

Answer 13

• “Speedy thief”
• Fast ~24mph
• Intelligent
• Retractable claws
• Feathers?

Question 14

What are the supporting arguments that birds evolved from theropods?

Answer 14

• Lost of anatomical similarities
• Hollow bones
• Furcula/wishbone
• Feathers

Question 15

What is the damaging argument that birds evolved from theropods?

Answer 15

Archaeopteryx is lizard-hipped

Question 16

Briefly describe Aurornis xui - “Daybreak Bird”

Answer 16

• ~160 MYA
• 1st bird?
• Size of a pheasant
• Half-metre tall
• 50cm long
• Clawed wings
• Long bony tail

Question 17

What was the climate like?

Answer 17

• Hot and arid
• Vast deserts
• No polar ice of glaciers
• Warm seas
• Higher sea levels

Question 18

What three methods do we use to date dinosaurs?

Answer 18

• Chronostratigraphy - Decay of unstable isotopes
• Lithostratigraphy - Sedimentation & relative dating
• Biostratigraphy

Question 19

What are the arguments discussing whether the T.rex was a scavenger or predator?

Answer 19

Scavenger:

• Eyes too small
• Arms too small
• Legs too big
• Large olfactory lobes
• No fossil evidence for predation

Predator:

• Massive, powerful jaw with serrated teeth
• Large, powerful legs
• Fast runner
• Ocular cavities positioned forward

Question 20

How can we measure the speed of dinosaurs?

Answer 20

• By measuring the stride length, we can construct the speed at which the animals were moving
• We can also estimate their leg lengths from the size of the feet
• Speed of locomotion (V)

(V) = 0.25g^0.25SL^1.67*h^-1.17

g = the acceleration of free fall
SL = stride length
h = hip height

Question 21

Name at least 3 theories of dinosaur extinction

Answer 21

• Competition with mammals
• Blast waves, dust clouds, tsunamis
• Earthquakes, global wildfires
• Comet/asteroid collision
• Volcanic acitivty