TA BIOLOGY REVIEW Paleontologist studies ancient organisms Paleobiologist studies the lives of ancient organism THOMAS JEFFERSON Fossil fanatic Mr Mammoth Founding father of paleontology First record of dinosaurs were in china SIR RICHARD OWEN British comparative anatomist Tried to categorize the giant fossil animals of Europe as scaled up members of living reptile groups Forced to conclude that dinosaurs were a unique and formerly unrecognized reptilian group Named these organisms Dinosauria fearfully great reptiles Sacral vertebrae Believed dinosaurs were quadrupedal Scrotum humanum was the first proper scientific name given to a dinosaur megalosaur thigh bone petrified remains of balls know picture Megalosaurus no excitement no one cared because people thought it was a giant croc Iguanodon iguana tooth their teeth looked like the teeth of Iguanas concluded that the dinosaurs were herbivorous caused lots of excitement because it went against the belief that dinosaurs were all carnivores BARON GEORGE CUVIER Examined Mosaurus and theorized anything like it died out long ago Very influential man and was considered a genius people for the first time gave serious consideration to the possibility that animals can and have gone extinct ROBERT BAKKER took the Deinonychus story challenged many of the dogmas about dinosaur contending that all dinosaurs were physiologically more like modern birds than bad been previously thought As a result interest in dinosaur research soared Baron George Cuvier Robert Bakker dinosaur renaissance brought excitement back to dinos DINOSAURS Unique from all other reptiles Three or more sacral vertebrae Hands with three main fingers Perforate acetabulae Dino characterists 3 oterosaurs 2 different types ornithischians sauishchians where they are on the calodgram and their distinguishing characteristics Two major groupings of DINOSAURS ORNITHISCHIANS bird hips with pelvic bones shaped like those of birds SAURISCHIANS lizard hips with pelves like lizards Dinosaurs showed up 238 million years ago Went extinct 65 5 million years ago along with 40 80 percent of all life Climate was a lot warmer no ice caps Age of dinosaurs look for lead isotopes best isotopes to age dinosaurs is Uranium Dinosaurs are found in sedimentary rocks Earliest dinosaurs were small Dinosaurs are Terrestrial GA is the closest to us to find dinosaurs Stupidest stegosaurus Smartest0 Troodon brain like birds Tallest 56 ft Sauroposeidon Smallest 7oz Fastest ornithomimids Longest seismosaurus head beyond the back wall of the Archyaeoptryx first bird Heterodontosaurus picture notice its difference in its teeth where it Ceratopsian what it looks like inspired Greek legends of Griffen Hadrosaurs most info known about them because they were found in classroom 140ft gets its name herds eggs found Plesiosaur lochness monster Pachyrhinosaurus boss on nose theory was base for enormous horn Pachycephalosaurus fought by head on ramming and flank butting Certisaur0 gap between front and back teeth mistaken for venom groove Coelophysis ate crocs story about how they thought they were eating each other Theropod0 scissor hands may have eaten plants Theropod birds are thought to be evolved from them serrated teeth Oviraptor protoceratops egg stealer Spinosaurus destroyed in British bombing Ceropoda gap between front and back teeth Gigantosaurus larger than Trex Dental battery 100 s of joining teeth enamel on one side of teeth to sharpen them Osteoderm bones found in the skin Endocasts casts of brain cavity used to see what sense they relied on T Rex 2 fingers good sense of smell endocast say they have large olfactory bulbs Lizard hips Tracks show that they didn t drag their tales They couldn t run but ambled Sometimes predators sometimes scavengers DR ERICKSON computerized finite element modeling models to see bite forces example crocs highest bite forces is 3700lbs growth curves show dinosaurs grew like marsupials and faster than reptiles Extinction theories 1 Volcanism 2 sea level dropped 3 impact of asteroid in the gulf of Mexico accepted theory Kt extinction event 40 80 percent of all life forms went extinct Problem with theories animals like frogs and croc who are vulnerable to their environment survived If dinosaurs hadn t become extinct they would evolve into the creepy human looking dinosaur thing theory Fossils showed that dinosaurs had feathers Intermediate phase b w dinosaurs and birds were they had 4 wings and glided Birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs Bone structure blend of avian reptilian traits Their sexis still not known sexual dimporphism o Theory of vertebrae can determine sex not proven Coprolite dinosaur feces Encephilixation quotient how much brain compared to mass Over splitting giving multiple names to one species more than their really are o Brontosaurus same as Apatosaurus
View Full Document