T. Rex Summary

In the 1930s, a strange bone was found on the shore of the lake by Oscar Frederickson. The bone was believed to be a spinal vertebra. Sadly, the original bone was lost in a fire, but a wooden copy was made. The bone was showed to Dr. James McLeod of the University of Manitoba, who felt it resembled a vertebra. However, he felt it was the vertebra of a whale-like creature that had been extinct for over four million years.

Bradbury’s description of the tyrannosaurus rex is based on fact, but he used his imagination to explain the t-rex more vividly, to where it is easier to understand and picture. Most of his descriptions were true, he just used picture details. For example, he said, “Each thigh was a ton of meat, ivory, and steel mesh.”. Therefore he was correct because T-Rex’s are huge animals and they do have big thighs that are full of meat. For the pictured details, he just included the ivory and steel mesh to help us picture what it actually looked like. However, he was also wrong on his description in a certain way because Bradbury said that they have teeth like daggers, but in reality, T-Rex’s have somewhat wide and dull teeth, rather than being flat

naval would symbolize the missing connection that she would have with not only her father, but

blood, skin tissues, semen, skin tissue, and hair. Jeffreys proved that even small fragments of

From both the title of the chapter and the introduction by Dr. Shubin, this chapter begins with a focus on teeth. Because the function of teeth is to break down food before it enters the esophagus, the different shapes of teeth can represent many different things about the organism it belongs to including what type of eater it was (carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore). Teeth are the hardest tissue (not bone) in the human body and therefore fossilize well. As Dr. Shubin stated in chapter one, there must be many points that permit a fossil to make any kind of scientific conclusion. Obviously, the state of their presence is important, so the fact that teeth preserve well allows for them to be great specimens for analysis. Dr. Shubin and his team analyzed fossilized teeth in areas as different as Nova Scotia and the Arizona desert. Studying different fossils in these diverse regions allowed the team to see that mammalian and reptilian teeth are very different. For example, mammalian teeth differ from organism to organism to fit with the organisms need (Cheetahs that eat only meat will have different teeth than deer who are herbivores) and are replaced only once in the lifetime of the organism while reptilian teeth are usually sharp and are constantly replaced if damaged. These differences allowed scientists to characterize fossils as either a reptile or a mammal. Similar to Tiktaalik discussed in chapter one, the discovery of fossils that were part reptile and part mammal allowed the researchers to see that mammals evolved from reptiles, and further supported the theory of evolution. Further studies yielded even more

The Bone Wars was a rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh and was also known as “The Great Dinosaur Rush.” This dinosaur rush was during the gilded age of American history with the discovery of over 140 new species of dinosaurs being described and discovered. These two men started as friends strangely enough and ending as bitter enemies with little to no money to their names. The Bone Wars covered a period of 15 years from 1877 to 1892. These two paleontologists ended up using underhanded methods during this time to try and out-compete the other in the discovery of dinosaurs.

These dinosaurs were discovered in the Shandong peninsula, which is the exact reason for its name. Also discovered in 1973 by a man named Hu. They were known to be the biggest ornithischian. This dinosaur had over 1,000 teeth and though they only used them toward eating plants. They weren’t the fastest but had the ability to sprint in order to get away from predators. They also spent their time traveling in herds in order to stay safe due to predators always on the prowl. These dinosaurs were smart enough to know that they would have strength in number and due to their size. They were known to stand their ground and had the tools to fight but when a large predator came lurking by like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, they knew their best chance of survival was to vacate the area. These massive dinosaurs stood at 25 feet in height, 54 feet in length, and weighs about 15 tons. Shantungosaurus was a very distinct dinosaur, definitely not like any other dinosaur around. But they were able to defend themselves and did so using teamwork and if they couldn’t win they were able to run away. They were able to go on their two legs and sprint. Also they had a tail that was really long and the biggest purpose of this tail was to keep them balanced, though it was thought this tail was used for aquatic reasons but it was later found that this was not the case due to the structure of the tail. The simple fact is we can only know so much about these dinosaurs; we weren’t there, so how could we really know what these dinosaurs

Tyrannosaurs Rex, better known as the T-Rex, which means Tyrant lizard king lived during the late Cretaceous period, about 85 million to 65 million years ago. They were 40 feet long and 20 feet tall and weighed up to 7.5 tons. They were strictly carnivores and used their very sharp teeth to eat other dinosaurs. Fossils were discovered in Western North America and the skull of a T- Rex alone measured up to 1.5m(5ft) long. The also have the record of having the largest tooth of any carnivorous dinosaur found to this day, which is around 30cm (12in) long. When the T-Rex hits around the age of 14 its body size would increase rapidly, putting on around 600kg (1300Ib) a year over the next 4 years.

The fossil of Tiktaalik confirmed a major prediction of paleontology in that it showed characteristics of both aquatic animals, such as fish, and land animals, such as reptiles and amphibians. While it had fins and scales, it also had a flexible neck, a flat head, and complex bone structure in its fins that correspond with the structure of the legs of terrestrial animals. Thus, it demonstrates the evolutionary transition between aquatic and terrestrial life.

The detractors of “Nonavian Feathers in a Late Triassic Archosaur” believe that the feather-like impressions in the fossil are not even feathers at all. Based on the angle and shape of the imprints, many paleontologists believe that they were left by ‘highly modified scales’, or possibly even ferns that had fallen on the animal’s body after death.4

To begin with, the reading states that the fine lines may be caused by the fiber that comes from dinosaur's skin. However, the lecture points out that if those lines come from skin, it should have a decomposition. Moreover, skin often well-preserved in other animals' fossils, so those lines are not skin.

the excavation of the Member 3 sediment progressed, numerous other pieces of fossil bone came to light that appeared to have been burnt. Histological and chemical examination

There were over 1,000 different species of dinosaurs (“Dinosaurs”) that lived and evolved for almost 185 million years (“Dinosaur Facts”). Dinosaurs were some of the largest and most mysterious creatures to walk the Earth. Dinosaurs have helped scientists to understand the Earth and it 's past by studying different types, how they lived, their characteristics and what caused their mass extinction.

First, Crichton noted that duckbilled dinosaurs were herbivores which are supported by a trace fossil found in the coal beds of the western North America that indicated footprints with plant fossils (Martin 2006). Furthermore, duckbilled dinosaurs lived in a vegetated environment that they had to consume enough food relative to their body size. Duckbilled dinosaurs had lengthened their skull and smoothed snout to obtain and process more food. The Dilophosaurus was described as two curved crests that extended from the eyes to the nose. The crest created a V shape on the head with red and black stripes on the crests (Crichton, 1990). Based on fossil evidence, the Dilophosaurus had two crests on the head, but there was no indication of the pigment of the crest. Next, the book stated that the T. rex does not bite the prey, instead, it twisted and tore the

Paleontologist’s alternative theory is that T. rex scavenged its food from other animals ' kills. Scavengers need a good sense of smell and means of long-distance locomotion to get to the meat. There is evidence that T.rex had an acute sense of smell. Also, T. rex 's large legs would provide ample means of long-distance locomotion. There are arguments against this scavenger hypothesis. Dr. Kenneth Carpenter found a healed T. Rex Tooth mark on the tail of a hadrosaur (a duck-billed dinosaur). This is evidence that T. rex was an active predator, and not simply a scavenger. Other arguments against the scavenger hypothesis are that small eyes do not necessarily imply poor vision. Birds have relatively small eyes but acute vision. As for T. rex 's puny arms, arms are not necessary for predation; many predators have no arms at all, like sharks and snakes. As for T. rex’s speed, there were many animals that were slower than T. rex; these would become its prey, not the speedier types. The coprolite is assumed to be from T. rex because of its huge size.