Dinosaurs 101

Feathered Dinosaurs?

Yup! Recent discoveries show that a majority of dinosaurs were probably covered in feathers! Fossils found in China and Siberia have revealed an ancestor to most dinosaurs that were covered in tufts of feathers. The Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus (KOO-lin-dah-DRO-mee-us ZAH-bike-kal-ik-kuss) had downy feathers, most likely for insulation, and scales down their back and tale. The scales on Kulindadromeus resemble the scaly skin seen on some birds, the study says, which also argues for a deep genetic root linking dinosaurs to birds. Maybe the robin in your backyard has some distant relatives in the Jurassic Period!

Dinosaurs 101

Because we are ringing in the new year, lets celebrate with the newest dinosaur! This guy was discovered in September of 2014 and is one of the biggest dinosaurs ever found! Meet the Dreadnoughtus schrani. He tips the scale at over 65 tons and was over two stories tall at his shoulder! This dino was found by Kenneth Lacovara who is excited to see what this creature can tell us about massive dinosaurs. It is being compared to a living building! That's one Huge Dinosaur!

This is Kenneth with one of the Dreadnoughtus schrani in Argentina.

Dinosaurs 101

How do you know what the enemies of a dinosaur were?

Answer: The actual predators of most dinosaurs are not known. To determine what dinosaurs a meat-eater ate is very difficult since the fossil record is all there is, and it is very incomplete.

Fossil evidence
There are only a few ways of finding out about dinosaur predator/prey relationship, and they are all very rare.

• Fossilized stomach contents can tell you exactly what that dinosaur ate for its last meal (but only its last meal, not necessarily its entire diet). For example, Baryonyx stomach contents were found to contain fish scales.
• Fossilized dung also lets you know the contents of a dinosaur's meal. Unfortunately, figuring out what dinosaur the fossilized dung came from is not easy. Recently, T. Rex dung was found containing crushed Triceratops bone. Fossilized dung is called coprolites.
• Finding two fossilized dinosaurs that died in battle lets you know about the predator/prey relationship. In Mongolia, a Velociraptor and Protoceratops were found together, each bearing battle wounds (like teeth marks in the bones). 

Dinosaur 101

Question #4

What color were dinosaurs?

No one knows. Animal's skin colors are produced by organic pigments which are not preserved in the process of fossilization.

The best guess about dinosaur coloration is to try to figure out how a particular dinosaur lived and to look at modern-day reptiles (and other animals) as a guide. For example, an animal that is heavily hunted may need camouflage to help it hide from predators. Or, it may be brightly colored, mimicking a poisonous species.

Basically, it is impossible to know what the dinosaurs' coloration was (using today's science).

Dinosuars 101

Were more dinosaurs carnivores or herbivores?

There were many more plant-eaters! 

Some dinosaurs were carnivores (meat-eaters) but most were herbivores (plant-eaters). In any food chain, there have to be more organisms at the lower levels of the chain because the transfer of food energy is inefficient and much of the energy is wasted. During the Mesozoic Era (as in other times), plant diversity was greater than animal diversity. 

Dinosaurs 101

Question #6

What kind of habitat did the dinosaurs live in?

Habitats are very difficult to determine from what we know from the fossils that are generally available. We are able to figure out some of what the plant life was like based on the plant or animal fossils, but it is not an easy task to figure out what the environment was like. Paleontologists usually don't say much about particular dinosaurs' habits because of this. 

 

Dinosaurs 101

Top 10 Questions about dinosaurs

                                   Question #9:What color were the dinosaurs?

Answer: No one knows. Animal's skin colors are produced by organic pigments which are not preserved in the process of fossilization.

The best guess about dinosaur coloration is to try to figure out how a particular dinosaur lived and use modern-day reptiles (and other animals) as a guide. For example, an animal that is heavily hunted may need camouflage to help it hide from predators. Or, it may be brightly colored, mimicking a poisonous species.

Basically, it is impossible to know what the dinosaurs' coloration was (using today's science). You can imagine that a dinosaur blended into its environment, or its coloration was part the body's system to help keep it cool or warm, whatever the case, we don't think there was  ever a checkerboard 'saur (but we're not ruling it out)!

Dinosaurs 101

The Slowest Dinosaur

The slowest dinosaur out there was the Stegosaurus. It had a HUGE body and itty bitty legs, and scientists believe it's fastest speed was only around 4 miles per hour. The stegosaurus is still one of my favorite dinosaurs though.

Dinosaurs 101

The Shonisaurus

This aquatic beast lived over 250 million years ago during the late Triassic period. The Shonisaurus grew to be about 50 feet long and over 40 tons! It was part of the the Ichthyosaur family and had a long narrow nose and long fins. The Shonisaurus was first discovered in 1920 in Nevada and British Columbia and has since been excavated. These fossils can been seen at the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. It grew to be this size mainly because of it's protein rich diet of sea creatures smaller than itself. 

Dinosuars 101

The Kronosaurus

Name:
Kronosaurus (Greek for "Kronos lizard"); pronounced CROW-no-SORE-us
Habitat:
Oceans worldwide
Historical Period:
Middle Cretaceous (110 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
About 33 feet long and 7 tons
Diet:
Fish, mollusks, and other marine reptiles
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Enormous head with short neck; numerous sharp teeth

About Kronosaurus:
Kronosaurus was a classic example of a pliosaur, marine reptiles characterized by their thick heads, short necks, stocky trunks and outsized flippers.
The middle Cretaceous Kronosaurus appears to have made its living much like a modern Great White Shark, simply eating anything--fish, squids, and other marine reptiles--that swam across its path. As big as it was, though, Kronosaurus didn't approach the bulk of the most massive pliosaur of all time, Liopleurodon, which may have weighed as much as 35 tons (compared to about 10 tons for the largest Kronosaurus individuals). And both of these reptiles were outclassed by the giant shark Megalodon, which lived tens of millions of years later and attained weights in the 50 ton range.
The fragmented remains of Kronosaurus were discovered fairly early in paleontological history, in 1899 in Queensland, Australia. A much more complete specimen was unearthed three decades later, during a fossil-hunting expedition to Australia sponsored by Harvard University, and a few decades after that, a second Kronosaurus species was discovered in Colombia, South America, proof that this fearsome reptile attained an especially wide distribution during the Cretaceous period.

Dinosuars 101

 

The smallest dinosaur out there was the Saltopus. A bipedal dinosaur that only grew to be about 30-40 inches long. They lived during the late Triassic Period in Scotland. The Saltopus was discovered by William Taylor and named by Freidrich von Huene in 1910. Freidrich came up with the name Saltopus from the Latin word saltare meaning to jump and the Greek word pous meaning foot. It would only be the size of a domestic cat and because the Saltopus had hollow bones, it would have only weighed about two pounds. Pretty small for a dinosaur, but this little guy was still a vicious carnivore. It would probably be fun to have a pet Saltopus running around the house though.

Dinosaurs 101

Kritosaurus

It's name means separated lizard and had a very large nose and a crested beak. The Kritosaurus was a herbivore and was discovered in 1904 by Barnum Brown. This dinosaur was discovered in San Juan County, just a little south of Durango! It is very similar to other dinosaurs, but has some very distinguishable features like some crazy shaped bones in it's skull. This guy lived during the late Cretaceous period.

 

Dinosaurs 101

We are going to continue learning about the people who discover dinosaurs; Paleontologists. The have to dig through the dirt to find these fossils, but how do they get to these bones that tell us so much about the prehistoric times of dinosaurs?  

 ROCK PICK - The classic geologist's pick is always the most useful.  It has a square and flat end for busting rock and striking chisels and a pointed  pick end for digging, turning and splitting rock.

CHISELS - They come in various sizes. The all purpose size has a 1/2  inch wide blade and is about 6 to 9 inches long. Other useful sizes are 1/4 inch  for fine work and 1 inch or bigger for heavy work. Another very useful chisel is  known as a BRICK SET. It has a wide(2-3") blade and is excellent for
splitting and trimming.

TWEEZERS - A good pair of tweezers will come in handy if you must collect small pieces without disturbing the matrix or dirt around the specimen.  A good example would be a specimen that is starting to fall apart and must be collected in pieces for later assembly such as a trilobite.

NOTEBOOK - Keeping good notes is very important. There are all kinds of notebooks to choose from. Anything from a steno-pad to a waterproof surveyor's log. Mainly it should fit in your pack or pocket, be stiff enough to write on while standing and sturdy enough to hold up to the environment.

Dinosaurs 101

We know so much about dinosaurs, but who figured it out?

Paleontologists of course!!

Here are some fun facts about Paleontologists

1. Paleontology is the study of prehistoric life on Earth, going as far back as 3.8 billion years ago and is what you could call a combination of geology (rocks) and biology.

2. The word paleontology is Greek and comes from a combination of palaios and logos, respectively meaning “old or ancient” and “words or study”.

3. For people that are interesting in pursuing a career in paleontology, you generally need a PhD.  Some of top schools in the US for paleontology include the University of California, Chicago, Michigan, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio State, Cincinnati, and Texas.

4. Dating the fossils can be challenging as radiometric dating doesn’t work to well with locations that fossils are usually found. Stratigraphy is usually used instead, which is estimating the age of the rocks around the fossil and putting the fossil age somewhere in between.

Maybe someday you could become a Paleontologist!