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BSC 1005 Dinosaur Unit Fall 2013 Paleontologist someone who studies nay aspect of ancient organisms Fossils remains of ancient life For dinosaurs we tend to think solely of these as bones Cladistics A method to organize physical characteristic of dinosaurs and discern relationships Finite Element model used to find out the bite force of dinosaurs Encephalization Quotient a measure of brain size relative to body mass Endocasts formed by sediments that filled the brain cavity during the fossilization process and became solidified Form these we know the brain size of dinosaurs Oversplitting naming more species than there really are First proper scientific named dinosaur was Scrotum humanum so named because thought to be dinosaur private parts now known to have been the end of a dinosaur s thighbone First written accounts of dinosaurs come from China Mosasaurus sea monster Cuvier said things go extinct concept of extinction was for the first time realized by a few Europeans Richard Owen took stock of all the crazy giants being found in Europe and noted they were different than the reptiles living today gaunt have upright posture named them Dinosaurisa meaning fearfully Giant Reptiles How do we learn more about dinosaurs It is important to realize there is another category of fossils called Trace Fossils These are traces of creatures they are not physical remains of the animals tissues Includes dino tracks eggs bite marks coprolites skin impressions etc Reveal aspects of posture walking and running speeds group behavior Because of tracks we know dinosaurs didn t drag their trails Tracks Skin Impressions Reveal aspects of thermoregulation and display features Gastroliths gizzard stones aid in digestion like our molars as well as stomach contents Reveal capacities to further breakdown foods and what was eaten Eggs and nests Aspects of ovaries Tell us who ate who Bite marks Coprolites Tell us what they ate if they had strong digestive acids how much the dentition broke down items Where do we find dinosaurs Sedimentary rocks rivers deserts etc Very rarely find them in volcano rocks or metamorphic rocks Best place to find them are badlands Closest place to find dinosaurs is in Columbus Georgia Will not find dinosaurs in Florida What makes a dinosaur a dinosaur Dinosaurs have teeth in sockets like crocodiles and pterosaurs and are thus close Three or more sacral vertebrae fused backbones in hip region Perforate actebulae i e the hole where the thighbone attached goes all the way through the hip relatives Unique dinosaur feature 1 Unique dinosaur feature 2 Hands with 3 main fingers Unique dinosaur feature 3 Dinosaur Renaissance Ostrom discovered Denionychus an athletic animal Robert Bakker said that all dinosaurs were athletic and more like living birds and mammals Outcome everyone started studying dinosaurs and jobs were created more money is spent on dinosaurs than ever before By the late 1800s there were two types of dinosaurs Hips shaped like birds ornithischians Hips shaped like lizards saursichians When Did Dinosaurs Live Lived 238 million years until 65 6 million years ago How do we know these ages Look at radioactive isotopes in volcanic rocks Compare original amount to final amount to asses age For dinosaur age uranium 235 is best It is pure when volcano rocks cool Carbon dating is too short to be of our use for dinosaurs Life of Dinosaurs on Earth Who lived with the dinosaurs By the middle of the Cretaceous period flowering plants start showing up These plants regenerate quickly can survive grazing Keep in mind that dinosaurs were terrestrial We have no credible evidence that they were amphibious or aquatic Those that Lived Among Dinosaurs Supercroc and Its Bite Force American Alligator 3000lbs Saltwater crocodile 3700lbs highest bite force ever measured Supercroc 31 000lbs weight of a mach truck Turtles Were like today s turtles but some reached Lots of sea monsters Type of Plesiosaur We know their find profiles and we know that they gave live birth Long Necked Plesiosaurs The supposed Loch Ness Monster Mosasaurs In the air were pterosaurs Aquatic animals closley related to today s monitor lizards like the Komodo dragon First ones had long tails some where filter feeders some had been foun with fur Mammals appear at the same times as dinosaurs Mostly rat or possum sized throughout the age of the dinosaurs In the late Jurassic birds show up These constitute about half of all dinosaurs and is a group composed solely of Bird Hip Dinosaurs herbivores Ornithischia can be identified by 1 Bird shaped hip bones 2 Beaks to crop plants The first ones appear in the Middle Triassic Period 225 million years ago Like all early dinosaurs they were small 30 100lbs and were bipedal Test question dinosaurs start small and end big They had simple leaf shaped teeth that did not occlude and thus presumable ate succulent plants like many lizards today with similar dentitions A mahor group of ornithischians were the Thyreophora shield bearers or armored dinosaurs The diagnostic characteristics with armor or osteoderms like those on the backs of alligators Stegosaurs Supermodel for Stupidity Later forms of Thyreophora Characterized by Plates and spikes along or beside the backbone Two ton stegosaurs had 2 5 2 9oz brains Ours are 3 3 5lbs Their olfactory bulbs were relatively large suggesting a good sense of smell Ornithischian Group Cerapoda The distinguishing feature of the Cerapodans is a gap between the front and back Ornithopods teeth called a distema We know more about their biology than any other dinosaur because they were often gregarious herding animals Sometimes we find them in the thousands The distinguishing feature of Ornithopods is having front teeth well below the level of the back teeth They were small herbivores The teeth of these dinos were mammal like Heterodinosaurs were one of the earliest types of ornithopods Unfortunately we do not know the gender of any dinosaurs But in the case of Heterodontosaurus we have evidence of sexual dimorphism one sex bigger than the other Triceratops The largest and most famous ceratopsian Three horn faced dinosaur Often seen facing off with T Rex Triceratops were split into no less than 16 species The confusion came from confusion from naming of young males vs females oversplitting It is likely that Triceratops used horns for defense at times but one must keep in mind that horns in most animals today are used primarily for display and fighting one


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FSU BSC 1005 - Paleontologist

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