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Dinosaurs |
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Introduction
So you want to know about dinosaurs?
Ok lets
find out more but first …….
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| A. The word ‘dinosaur’ is attributed to Sir Richard Owen a British anatomist who came up with the term while he was discovering fossils in the mid 19th century. The term means ‘terrible lizard’. | |
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Left (3d) - T-Rex was a carnivorous predator that lived during the late Cretaceous period. |
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Above - one of T-Rex's main courses: Triceratops |
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Q. What are fossils? A. Fossils are the remains of plants and animals that are preserved in rocks. The soft tissues such as the skin decays leaving the bone structure or shells of the animal behind, which were eventually replaced by minerals that ran into the impressions left by the decaying bone / shell structure. |
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It’s not just Jurassic Park! The dinosaurs didn’t just live in the Jurassic period; they spanned a period of almost 200 million years. The first dinosaurs appeared in the Triassic Period almost 220 million years ago, developing through the Jurassic Period 150 million years ago and into the Cretaceous Period 127 million years ago. They finally became extinct in the late Cretaceous Period approximately 65 million years ago. |
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There were many different species of dinosaurs some a lot more famous than others – everyone’s heard of Tyrannosaurus Rex but how many of you have heard of an Ornitholestes? We’ll find out more about some of the different species and when they lived later. And we’ll look at what happened to the dinosaurs – why did they become extinct? Perhaps one of the world’s great unsolved mysteries. As you will see there are various theories but which one do you believe? Ready? Lets go to the Triassic Period |
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