The Bone Wars: The Great Dinosaur Rush

“We often think of the T-Rex as this huge crocodile-like bipedal reptile but in fact, its closest modern relative are birds and the T-Rex was actually the dinosaur equivalent of a chicken” explains Linda Rushmore, head researcher at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ Paleontology

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.

In conclusion, we rely on fossils and other scientific findings to help us understand how dinosaurs lived so long ago. The Jurassic Period was one of the more fascinating periods to learn about and one of the more interesting things that I’ve

Although the Ediacaran period was well before the first appearance of dinosaurs it shows that there were fossils many years ago. When dinosaurs first appeared things had changed there was still shallow water which meant that bones could be fossilized.

“He returned, shuddering, five minutes later, his arms soaked and red to the elbows”. This is Eckels. But he’s not always covered in blood. He is a brave and fearless hunter. Or at least that's what he wants us to think. In the short story “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury, Eckels is a hunter that travels back in time to hunt a dinosaur. More specifically, a T-Rex. Though Eckels is a skilled hunter of normal animals, he is insecure because he is trying to disguise his terror and anxiety by attempting to look like a tough and courageous hunter.

Which dinosaur was responsible for the death of the construction worker early in the novel? How is this dinosaur adapted for hunting?

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

The main dinosaurs that died off were Sauropod dinosaurs, long necked, four legged dinosaurs, and stegosauridae, class holding Stegosaurus. Other species that died include ammonites, similar to the living animals called nautilus, many marine reptiles, and bivalves, relatable to modern mollusca. Not much is known about this extinction. It is mainly linked to climate change. So far, no connection to volcanic activity or an asteroid has been made. This extinction gave way to the Cretaceous Period.

Paleontology, or the study of fossils, was still a young science at the start of Victorian times, and the idea that fossils were the remains of species extinct for millions of years was only gradually taking hold. The term "dinosaur," meaning "terrible lizard," was coined in 1842 by the British paleontologist Richard Owen, who went on to produce the first life-size reconstructions of dinosaurs based on the evidence of their skeletons. The Victorian era saw the rise of the first great dinosaur hunters, including the legendary American rivals Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker

A five-year old boy and his father walk through the American Museum of Natural History in New York (“World Biography”). They explore the exhibits, but one in particular stands out to the child. In front of him stands a Tyrannosaurus rex. The five-year old boy was Stephen Jay Gould. He is quoted saying, “As we stood in front of the beast, a man sneezed; I gulped and prepared to utter my Sherman Yisrael. But the great animal stood immobile in all its bony grandeur, and as we left, I announced that I would be a paleontologist when I grew up,” (qtd. in “World Biography”). This proclamation was the beginning to a long and successful career in paleontology and evolution.

Disregarding the feathers of Longisquama, and therefore disregarding its link to Archaeopteryx, these scientists still fully support the dinosaur-bird link. As mentioned before, the extreme majority of paleontologists still subscribe to this idea. A recent discovery in the western region of China seems to clarify the link between dinosaurs and birds. Living at roughly the same time as Archaeopteryx, Sinovenator changii is very closely related to the bird yet is classified as a dinosaur.5

The word dinosaur was invented in 1842 by Richard Owen. Dinosaur comes from the Greek word “deinos” and “sauros” which translates to fearfully great lizard (“Learn about Dinosaurs”). Dinosaurs are always named in Greek and usually named after their unique fossils, where they 're found, it’s size or a person. Before a dinosaur can be officially named it must be approved by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. It’s difficult to figure out how dinosaurs sounded, mated, behaved, what color/pattern they were and which ones are male or female. Paleontologists have however been able to discover that dinosaurs hatch from eggs, their bones have growth rings which can help figure out their age and that the larger dinosaurs lived for roughly 100 years and smaller ones for less. All dinosaurs evolved from other reptiles during the Triassic period. Dinosaurs are either herbivores or carnivores and are divided into two major groups. Bird hipped, Ornithischian, or lizard hipped, Saurischa. In the Saurischa hipped dinosaurs the pubis bone is down and to the front but in Ornithischian hipped it is point down and towards the tail (“Zoom Dinosaur”). The next step was to examine how dinosaurs behaved and their characteristics.

The Brontosaurus as Marsh envisioned him: wrong head, wrong name, and wrong lifestyle. The Brontosaurus is an interesting dinosaur because of it’s appearance, background, and habitat.

The movie Good Dinosaur, is about a dinosaur that gets lost from his family and is trying to make his way back home. The subject, or topic being addressed in this movie is the dinosaur’s adventures and hardships he faces while finding his family. This takes place about 66 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, which is also the time period where dinosaurs were known to roam earth. The movie is likely geared toward a younger age group because of its cartoons and language, but overall the movie could be directed at anyone. The purpose, or message of this movie trailer is about loyalty and defying the odds. The narrator of the story is the dinosaur. The movie trailer appeals to ethos and pathos. The words “Disney” and “Pixar” show up

These techniques led to the discovery of the boundary between the two eras. A single thin layer of clay found within predominantly limestone rocks established this. By comparing the marine life found in, above, and below the clay, the marine life, like the dinosaurs, had been terribly affected by the extinction event. The percentage of life in the upper layers was dramatically lower than that in the lower. This was far more compelling than what was suggested by dinosaur’s fossils.