Baby Bio- Dinosaur Study Guide*Look at pictures from the bookPaleontologist- someone who studies any aspect of “ancient organisms”Paleobiology- the study of ancient life; what they were like anatomically, physiologically, behaviorally, and ecologically*Where the first written dinosaur accounts were found:China, they thought they were dragonsScrotum Humanum-first name of dino bone, thought was scrotum of dino, but was thigh bone (first English encounter)Mosasaurus- Cuvier said it was extinct- first time people realized things go extinctMegalosaurus- “big lizard” first valid dino name- no one cared because at the time people believed exaggerated tales of 30 foot crocodiles in Africa and Australia so they just thought it was a crocIguanodon (“iguana tooth”)- thought it was a big iguana (iguana tooth); look at picture of iguanodon tooth below; was first described herbivorous dinosaur*Sir Richard Owen named dinosaurian meaning fearfully great reptiles (1842); reptiles meaning scaly-skinned, terrestrialized (=living on land) animals that lay hard-shelled eggsRelated to crocodiles, pterosaurs (flying reptiles) and dinosauromorphs (extinct dinosaur-like reptiles)Pterosaurs had upright posture and so are closer relatives to dinos than crocsArchosaurians (crocodiles, pterosaurs, dinosaurs, etc.) have following characteristics: teeth in sockets that are replaced throughout life, hinge-like ankles, and erect posture due to an inturned ball on the femur (thigh bone)Dinosaurs: Have three or more sacral vertebrae=fused backbones in the hip region, hands with three fingers, and perforate acetabulae (the hole where the thighbone attached goea all the way through the hip) are all what make dinos dinosTwo types of dinos: ornithischians with hips shaped like birds, saursichians with hips shaped like lizardsThe Fossil Feud: 1870’s-1890’s, Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope; Cope showed Marsh a place in New Jersey where he had people digging up bones; Marsh went back and began paying them more for the fossils, taking them from Cope: fuel was added to the fire when Marsh pointed out that Cope had put the head of a Plesiosaur (a long-necked sea monster) on its tail*After WWII most dino hunting slowed downDeinonychus (“terrible claw”)- dinosaur renaissance- changed our perception of dinos because it was so bird like and agile (like the raptor from Jurassic Park)Robert Bakker- stole the idea and ran with it, saying that all dinosaurs were physiologically more like modern birds than had been thought before- interest in dino research soared; funding for research soared and hundreds of jobs were created*Dinos existed from 238 million years until 65.5 million years ago (Nobel Laureate Walter Alvarez in 1980 proposed that a meteorite killed off the dinosaurs)*A new dinosaur is named every weekTriassic Period: occurred 251-200 million years ago; the oldest dinosaurs show up midway through this periodJurassic Period: occurred 200-146 million years ago; this was the time of the very largest dinosaursCretaceous Period: occurred 146-65.54 million years ago; the final stage for dinosaurs and the time when T. rex ruled; the dinosaurs went extinct 65.54 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous PeriodHalf life- the amount of time it takes for half of the original material to break down; know the rate of decay- uranium 235 degrades into lead 207Climate in the age of dinos: World was warmer, arid in equatorial regions, much like florida in middle latitudes, closer to the poles it was cool, wet, and rainyPlate tectonics: in the Triassic period all were adjoined into one super continent known as Pangea; throughout the age of dinosaurs the continents moved apart, driven by volcanic seafloor spreading in the oceansClimate: There were no ice caps at the poles; there was more free water in the oceans than there is today and a greater portion of the continents were covered by water*Crocs lived with dinos: there earliest ones were not like those today, they were small, agile, terrestrial predators*32 foot deinosuchus was a super croc- bite force of 18,000 lbs*Highest bite force at fsu was 3,700 lbsPlesiosaur- loch ness monster; bodies like sea turtles but necks were long and snake-like*Mammals appear at the same time as dinosFossils are any remains or evidence of ancient lifeTrace fossils- not actual remains of animal but what they were doing- bite marks, tracks, eggs, skin impressions, stomach stones, and even fossilized feces; trace fossils are primary means by which paleontologists learn about dinosaur biologyTracks- revealed tails didn’t dragSedimentary rocks- where we find dinos; rocks formed from sediments (e.g., sandstones and shales) Igneous rocks- from volcanoes (such as ash tuffs); rarely find remains of animals hereBadlands- places where plants don’t grow is where bones are exposed and people find them*Find dinos in new jersey, Alabama, and GEORGIA (mainly in Georgia along the Chattahoochee)*First ones appear and were extremely small, then got big (all dinosaurs were not giants and the earliestforms were small)Ornithischians- bird shaped hip bones and beaks to crop plants; includes the herbivorous armored dinosaursThyreophora- “shield bearers” or armored dinos; had osteoderms- armor on the back like an alligatorAdvanced thyreophorans included two major groups: the ankylosaurs (the dinosaur “tanks”) and the stegosaurs (the “plated lizards”)Stegosaurs: plates and spikes along or beside the backbone are what distinguish this dinosaurStegosaurus: had enormous plates and two sets of spikes on its tail; the most famous stegosaurTheories of plates of stegosaurs: flapped to scare away predators, arranged for camouflage, absorb bitesfrom predators, defensive barrier, used as thermal radiators, used to dissipate heat in the wind, designed for species display (whether sexual or agonistic)Endocasts- sediments that filled the brain cavities of dinos or from filling hollowed skulls with latex*Paleontology has a history founded solely in geology, not biology, animal behavior, or anatomy- why they have all their crazy theoriesCerapodan- gap between front and back teeth like a horseHeterodontosaurs (different sized teeth lizards)- had different shaped teeth like a mammal*We do not know the sex of any dinosaursSexual dimophism- differences in size and shape between sexes*No credible evidence any dinosaur was arboreal (living in trees) or the seas; they were mainly terrestrial
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