My partner and I researched the amazing dinosaur called the velociraptor. Velociraptors are a dinosaur that has many similar features as a common turkey. For example, this dinosaurs had feathers, but not covered completely like a turkey. They are about 2 and a half feet tall with hollow bones. Like most birds, they have a wishbone and talon feet. They also had quill knobs. They couldn’t fly because they were too small, but they used them to hunt. They had long thin tall to help them balance when they were running. Their strong legs helped the run up to 40 miles per hour! Velociraptors were known as one of the top ten most dangerous dinosaurs in their time (the late cretaceous period) because of their sharp claws and sharp curved teeth. These dinosaurs were great hunters, their claw would puncture the flesh of their prey but not rip through it, yet their teeth would. Their teeth and claws helped …show more content…
They had a narrow and shallow snout. Their bones were built for catching prey. There was evidence found in China of a triceratops and velociraptor fighting to the death because there were bones left behind. They used their tails to change direction quickly, like a cheetah. Many people don’t know there are two types of velociraptors, known as the beaked velociraptors and the normal velociraptors. In a pack, they are one of the smartest killer, but without one, they can’t survive very long. They weighted up to 33 pounds ( 15 kilograms) and were 2 meters long and 1.8 meters tall. The claw on their second two is bigger and rounded similar to an eagles. The first fossil was discovered by Henry Osborn. They mainly lived in places like Mongolia, China. The name Velociraptor means, “Swift Robber” and their nickname was “Raptor”. People think Velociraptor claw is used for disabling but, they were actually used for running and catching prey. Overall, velociraptors are amazing and ferocious creatures that have many common features to modern
Ceratopsians and Pachycephalosaurs are closely related in their characteristics. Ceratopsians processed a saddle-shaped boney frill that extended from the skull to the neck and typically had horns over the nose and eyes. The most popular was the triceratops, which could reach over 26 feet and weigh in excess of twelve metric tons. Their frills served as two major functions. It protected the vulnerable neck from being harmed. The second major function that the frill provided was due to the fact that the frill contained a network of blood vessels on its underside, which were used as a means to get rid of excess heat. The Pachycephalosaurs were considered to be bipedal. They were also found to have thick skulls, flattened bodies, and tail that were covered in an array of body rods. Pachycephalosaurs were thought to have been more than fifteen feet long and processed a skull that was surrounded by a rounded dome of solid bone. It was thought that they used their heads in combat or mating contests, but that was disproved fairly recently, which I will discuss later in the paper. Both Ceratopsians and Pachycephalosaurs were “bird-hipped” and both of these suborders contained a backwards pubic bone. Both were Marginocephilia, or “fringed heads”, which is one of three clads under the Orinthiscia order. They were also herbivore dinosaurs that inherited their fringe at the back of the skull from earlier ancestors.(2) Their classi...
Majungatholus atopus roamed the plains of northwestern Madagascar about 70 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous (Perkins, 2003; Rogers et al, 2003). The discovery of 21 tooth-marked elements originating from two Majungatholus atopus individuals suggests evidence that the dinosaur supplemented its diet by feeding on its own dead or hunting them (Rogers et al, 2003). It cannot be confirmed whether they were purely scavengers, hunters, or both. Scientists are certain that the marks are not the doing of any other predator because the teeth marks are not consistent with any other known species that lived in the area. Only one other theropod that inhabited the area during the time Majungatholus atopus did, Masiakasaurus knopfleri, had teeth and bite marks too small to have caused these markings. Two large crocodile species also shared the same ecosystem but their teeth were “too blunt and too irregularly spaced to have produced the narrow grooves found on the Majungatholus bones”(Perkins, 2003). The tooth marks on at least nine Majungatholus elements attest to intertooth spacing in the perpetrators jaw and denticle drag patterns consistent enough to make a compelling case for Majungatholus feeding on other Majungatholus (Rogers et al, 2003).
The background of this article gives information that is necessary to understand the experiment. The shape of the pelvic girdle is an appropriate predictor of both phylogeny and movement in terrestrial vertebrates. However, in marine vertebrates, the gravitational forces typically applied to terrestrial pelvic girdles are not there and therefore have little impact on the shape of the girdle. Pelvic girdles of fish are generally not attached to the vertebrae and primarily are used as a place for muscles to attach and supporting of the fins. The authors discuss how in many cases the pelvic girdle could be removed and not result in any complications. However, there are some marine vertebrates that are capable of bottom walking on the ocean floor with their fins. In batoids, the pelvic fins are used for walking, which is when pelvic fins move in an alternating fashion, or punting, when both pelvic fins move at the same time. There is also augmented punting; this is when the vertebrate uses both the pectoral fins and the pelvic fins to generate more thrust, this action decreases the forces on the pelvic fins during a punt. While this locomotion would
The difficulty in re-constructing dinosaurs for television and movies lies in the fact that not everything can be preserved. Fossilized bones create the skeleton of a dinosaur, thereby allowing scientists to study how they moved, how big they grew, and how different body parts worked as a whole. But what children see on television: the scaly green skin of the brontosaurs or the brown hair of a mastodon may not hold much fact. Unfortunately, particular physical features cannot be fossilized. Skin, cartilage, hair and other soft tissues usually decay before leaving science no clues to what these dinosaurs truly looked like. The public also cannot know the social behaviors of dinosaurs. Movies generally portray all carnivores like the T-Rex as monstrous bullies while the larger vegetarians all seem slow and peaceful. Up until recently, no hard evidence can be found to help support or dismiss any of these stereo-types. In the barren deserts of Argentina, a team of scientists from the National Geographic Society came across a massive graveyard of fossilized dinosaur eggs. In 1997, Dr. Luis Chiappe and Dr. Lowell Dingus discovered a rare opportunity to finally study the external functions of an ancient creature that contained fossilized teeth imprints, embryos and skin impressions. This unearthing unlocks endless prospects to learn about dinosaur behavior and external attributes, topics which used to be some of the most problematic areas of study. The most remarkable aspect, of course, is how the most delicate of information is found within an egg.
The idea of cloning dinosaurs and other prehistoric life became popularized by the 1992 film Jurassic Park (based on Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel). Though it may have sparked new interest into the field of paleontology, it did so with deceiving inaccuracies. However, the technical fallacies of the actual dinosaurs are somewhat forgivable as it added to the film’s dramatic appeal. Velociraptor, as depicted in the film, was about the size of a grown man. In reality, velociraptor came to about the kneecap. Furthermore, velociraptor would more likely have been covered in feathers rather than the lizard-like skin portrayed in the movie. One scene shows velociraptor fogging the window of a door. This is an endothermic or warm blooded trait as it implies the dromaeosaurid’s body temperature is above the temperature of his environment. There is also no evidence of dilophosaurus bearing a neck frill, and brachiosaurus did not have the ability to chew his food in a circular motion (iguanodon was the first dinosaur to develop this technique by acquiring back molars to allow for equine or bovine-like chewing). Fortunately, tyrannosaurus remained very close to his biological authenticity, with the only paleobiological errors stemming from a lack in computer animation such as rudimentary ball and joint programs. However, the erroneous nature of the deoxyribonucle...
Dinosaurs are often compared to and resemble modern day reptiles. Scientists will study how these modern day reptiles behave, look, act, and move to draw conclusions on how the dinosaurs would behave, look, act, and move. They also look at the intern make-up of the modern reptiles to predict how the dinosaurs internal make up would be. However, a recent discovery in South Dakota is stirring up some controversy (Hesman). While Mike Hammer was walking around a ranch in South Dakota he stumbled across a “big-eyed” dinosaur that he now refers to as Willo. The thing that caught his eye was the chest cavity of the dinosaur, upon further investigation he found a rock that was preserved in the curve of the dinosaur’s ribs, he was convinced that this rock was once a heart. Hammer then went on to take the dinosaur fossil in for a medical X-ray scan, this X-ray showed evidence that could change how we think about dinosaurs.
In an article entitled Tyrannosaurus was not a fast runner, those experts, John R. Hutchison and Mariano Garcia provide us with a detailed account of a recent study they did. Their study is described in an article entitled Biomechanics: Walking with tyrannosaurs by Andrew A. Biewener. Biewener states that Hutchinson and Garcia, “introduce a new biomechanical approach,” to the question of dinosaur movement and provide an, “a...
The dinosaur Majungatholus atopus is a meat-eating dinosaur that lived 65 to 70 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, in what is now the island of Madagascar. The Majungatholus has long been known for being a carnivorous dinosaur, but it wasn’t until recently that researchers revealed that this dinosaur was probably a cannibal. They were able to conclude that this was probably the case as a result of discovering several bones of the Majungatholus dinosaur with specific tooth marks in them that researchers have proven belonged to the Majungatholus dinosaur. In her 2003 press release for the National Science Foundation (NSF), Cheryl Dybas quoted the NSF program director Richard Lane, “this research greatly expands our understanding of how dinosaur species related to each other in the context of their environment, and also serves as a way of increasing public awareness of and appreciation for the earth sciences."1[1]
Another fact of fiction in this film involves the truly terrifying velociraptors. These specific dinosaurs are nicknamed "raptors", a name that now refers to the entire family of dinosaurs, not just the velociraptor as indicated in the film. In science before the film, the name "raptor" identified birds of prey.
5 The Field Museum. (2002). New Species Clarifies Bird-Dinosaur Link. Science Daily [online], 14 Feb 2002. Available at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/02/020214080242.htm
Dinosaurs are an extinct group of animals that thrived for 165 million years starting 230 million years ago in the Late Triassic period of the Mesozoic Era. Despite being extinct for the past 65 million years and not being able to study them in their true form, scientists have been able to estimate many different behaviors of dinosaurs. This paper will show that the close study and examination of different types of body and trace fossils, along with animal models, can be provided as evidence to estimate different types of behaviors in dinosaurs. The different types of behaviors examined below will fall into the categories of: mating; reproduction and nesting; social lives; locomotion; feeding; and fighting. To begin, a great deal of information gathered from fossils and compared to living animal models have been used to estimate mating behaviors.
Until recently, scientists believed the chances of finding a fossilized dinosaur heart were extremely slim. The heart belonged to a 66 million year old dinosaur found in Harding County in Northwestern South Dakota. The dinosaur, found in 1993, weighed over 650 pounds and was 13 feet long. The dinosaur was in fairly good condition with the exception of the left side of the skeleton. The small, plant-eating Thescelosaurus, nicknamed ‘Willo’ has been acquired by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Thescelosaurus was an ornithischian, or "bird-hipped," dinosaur that lived in the latter stage of the Cretaceous period. This was approximately 1 million years before the end of the dinosaur era. Native to North America, its range extended from the northern United States up into Canada. Since using the 3-D software to reveal Willo's heart, scientists have also used it to create 3-D images of the fossil's skull, and of remains from other dinosaurs in the museum's collection. (Fisher, Paul)
The Triceratops were very interesting dinosaurs. They were very smart and strategic. They moved in herds and used mating calls. They were very complex. They had an interesting body shape that gave them an advantage towards their predators. They were known for their horns and parrot-like beaks. They were herbivores that lived in North America. Triceratopses were very interesting.
Reptiles are vertebrate, or backboned animals constituting the class Reptilia and are characterized by a combination of features, none of which alone could separate all reptiles from all other animals.The characteristics of reptiles are numerous, therefore can not be explained in great detail in this report. In no special order, the characteristics of reptiles are: cold-bloodedness; the presence of lungs; direct development, without larval forms as in amphibians; a dry skin with scales but not feathers or hair; an amniote egg; internal fertilization; a three or four-chambered heart; two aortic arches (blood vessels) carrying blood from the heart to the body, unlike mammals and birds that only have one; a metanephric kidney; twelve pairs of cranial nerves; and skeletal features such as limbs with usually five clawed fingers or toes, at least two spinal bones associated with the pelvis, a single ball-and-socket connection at the head-neck joint instead of two, as in advanced amphibians and mammals, and an incomplete or complete partition along the roof of the mouth, separating the food and air passageways so that breathing can continue while food is being chewed. These and other traditional defining characteristics of reptiles have been subjected to considerable modification in recent times. The extinct flying reptiles, called pterosaurs or pterodactyls, are now thought to have been warm-blooded and covered with hair. Also, the dinosaurs are also now considered by many authorities to have been warm-blooded. The earliest known bird, archaeopteryx, is now regarded by many to have been a small dinosaur, despite its covering of feathers The extinct ancestors of the mammals, the therapsids, or mammallike reptiles, are also believed to have been warm-blooded and haired.
One cannot talk about dinosaur and bird lineage without mentioning Archaeopteryx. Most paleontologists agree that Archaeopteryx was the first bird. Archaeopteryx thus represents what paleontologists would call a “transitional form” between two major groups of animals, the reptiles (dinosaurs) and birds. The main difference between the theropods and Archaeopteryx were the long arms of the Archaeopteryx, adapted as wings, the feathers, and the presence of a wishbone that the theropods did not have. All of these features tie it to birds and its other characteristics tie it to theropods. One might say it was the “missing link” between the ...