DIeT - News.com.au

To scale with an
adult human
Allosaurus
Lived: 144-154 million years ago
Size: 12m long
Diet: carnivorous
The largest predator of the late jurassic era.
Allosaurus hunted small dinosaurs alone and
brought down larger prey in packs. It did not
have jaws powerful enough to crunch through
bone so it could only eat soft tissue. The
first allosaurus fossil finds were in 1877
in Colorado, but in 1927 a Utah quarry
yielded more than 40 skeletons.
thetelegraph.com.au/classmate
Ornithocheirus
n The female allosaurus was larger
than the male.
What are dinosaurs?
Walking with
n Despite the huge size of
the ornithocheirus, it may
have weighed less than 100kg
because it had light, air-filled
bones like modern birds.
Dinosaurs
Dinosaur is the common name for a group of extinct reptiles that
emerged between 210 million and 230 million years ago, in the late
triassic period, and died out about 65 million years ago by the end of
the cretaceous. The word dinosaur is from the Greek deinos meaning
“terrible”, and sauros meaning “reptile” or “lizard”. It was coined
in 1842 by anatomist Richard Owen to describe skeletons being
uncovered in the early 19th century.
First fossil finds
In ancient times, dinosaur fossils were thought to be the remains of
mythical creatures such as griffins, dragons or sea monsters. But in
the early 1800s scientists theorised that they were remains of extinct
creatures. In 1818 Solomon Ellsworth Jr discovered what he thought were
human bones. They were later identified as belonging to an anchisaurus,
but only after further discoveries alerted scientists to the existence of
other extinct creatures. As more remains were discovered and identified
in the 1820s and 1830s, a clearer picture began to emerge. Dean
William Buckland described the megalosaurus in 1824 and Gideon
Mantell the iguanodon in 1825. In 1841, British anatomist and pioneer
palaeontologist Richard Owen delivered a report to the British
Association for the Advancement of Science describing these extinct
reptiles, which were unlike any living species. He called the order
Dinosauria or dinosaurs. The term was quickly adopted.
Ankylosaurus
Lived: 65-71 million years ago
Size: 9m long
Diet: herbivorous
With its armoured back, thick skull
and clubbed tail, the ankylosaurus,
or “stiff lizard,” was well protected
from predators. However, it couldn’t
lift its head very high, could only
graze on low vegetation and
Did you know?
n At first, scientists thought the brachiosaurus lived in
water to support their enormous weight and
because they had nostrils high up on
their head. But it was found that
water pressure would have
made it impossible for
them to breathe.
moved slowly, but its clubbed tail
could smash attackers’ legs. The
first fossils were found in 1908 in
Montana, in the US.
Did you know?
n The ankylosaurus had a distant
relative, known as the minmi, that
lived in Australia. The first fossils
were found in Roma, Queensland,
in 1964.
Torosaurus
Did you know?
Lived: 65-71 million years ago
Size: 8m long
Diet: herbivorous
Torosaurus means “bull reptile”,
because of its horns. It was the
largest ceratopsian (horn-faced) dinosaur, related to
triceratops. The horns and large crest were most likely for
n The stegosaurus was an ornithischian
dinosaur, meaning “bird-hipped”, as distinct
from the saurischians or “lizard-hipped”
dinosaurs. The structure of the pelvis
differed in both kinds of dinosaur.
1914
One of the earliest animated dinosaur films was Gertie The Dinosaur,
which showed a large sauropod that interacted with its creator Winsor
McCay, who stood on stage working from a script.
1917
Willis O’Brien
created stop-motion
animated dinosaurs in the film
The Dinosaur And The Missing
Link. Despite inaccuracies, such
as human ancestors alongside
dinosaurs, it was an impressive
piece of filmmaking for its time.
O’Brien would further refine his
technique to depict prehistoric
creatures in The Lost World (pictured above) in 1925 and King Kong in 1933.
thetelegraph.com.au/classmate
Lived: 121-127 million years ago
Size: 6m long
Diet: carnivorous
A species of dromaeosaurid (fastrunning reptiles) from the cretaceous
era, it stood more than 2m tall, with long claws
on its hands and feet for killing and tearing its
prey. It was lightly built, swift and deadly. Its
name means “Utah thief”, because the first
fossil was discovered in 1993 in Utah, in the US,
and dromaeosaurids are often called raptors
after a name for predatory or thieving birds.
S
Did you know?
n Some reconstructions show the utahraptor
with feathers, but it is not known for certain if
it actually had feathers or scales.
1940
Walt Disney’s Fantasia included a segment showing the
birth of the dinosaurs, incorporating some of the latest
scientific thinking on the ancient creatures.
Lived: 65-75 million years ago
Size: 12m long
Diet: carnivorous
The T-rex is possibly the best-known dinosaur
species. A fierce predator, its name means “king
of the tyrant lizards”. It had large powerful jaws,
capable of crushing bone, and large curved teeth.
It could not chew food so it bit off chunks and
swallowed them whole. The first tyrannosaurus
skeleton was discovered in 1902 in the US.
Liliensternus
Lived: 219-222 million years ago
Size: 6m long
Diet: carnivorous
An ancestor of the large carnivores that
evolved later, the liliensternus was one of the
earliest meat-eating dinosaurs. It is named
after German palaeontologist Hugo Ruhle von
Lilienstern, who described the first fossil of
the creature found in Germany in 1934.
mating rather than defence. It had the
most powerful jaw muscles of any dinosaur
found so far. The jaw had about 600 teeth
and a sharp beak for eating plants.
Did you know?
n Torosaurus was one of the last
dinosaurs and was probably wiped out in the cretaceous
extinction event 65 million years ago.
Man-made dinosaurs
Not content with seeing fossils, people have long tried to give more dramatic
representations of dinosaurs. In the 19th century this included drawings,
paintings and even a dinosaur sculpture garden at the Crystal Palace. The
Crystal Palace sculptures were first attempts to create three-dimensional
representations of the extinct beasts anywhere in the world. Despite some
inaccuracies they gave people an impression of what the beasts might have
been like. The 20th century made it possible to represent dinosaurs in
the medium of film and later computer animation.
IVER
Tyrannosaurus Rex
Lived: 112-155 million years ago
Size: 23m long
Diet: herbivorous
The brachiosaurus was the tallest and heaviest of the
sauropods – the four-legged herbivores with a long tail and
neck. It could reach up to a height of 12m, allowing it to access
the tops of trees. The first fossils were found in 1900 in
Colorado, in the US.
Lived: 144-154 million years ago
Size: 9m long
Diet: herbivorous
A distinctive dinosaur with large plates on its back and
spikes on its tail. The spikes may have helped the stegosaurus
defend itself, since it moved slowly. The plates were filled
with blood vessels to regulate body temperature. The first
fossils were found in Colorado, in the US, in 1877, and while
related species have been found elsewhere, the stegosaurus
has only been found in North America.
NN
Utahraptor
Brachiosaurus
Stegosaurus
For free teacher resources visit
A
h
Did you know?
Did you know?
Lived: 70-140 million years ago
Size: wingspan of up to 12m
Diet: carnivorous
The ornithocheirus, meaning “bird-like
hand”, was possibly the largest of the
pterosaurs or flying reptiles. The first
fossils were found in England in 1827
but it took scientists years to work out
what the creature was. It lived near
large bodies of water and swooped on
aquatic prey. There is still some debate
as to whether they were warm or
cold blooded.
10t
D
inosaurs may have died out 65 million years
ago, but they continue to walk among us. In
books, films, TV shows, in museums and even
in the live stage show Walking With Dinosaurs The
Arena Spectacular. We have come a long way in our
understanding of these extinct animals since ancient
people believed they were dragons.
SS M A
T
E
A
CL
RY
11
Series 11
A
w
Dino dining
Paleontologists have been able to piece together an idea
of the dinosaurs’ diet by a number of methods. One strong
The film Jurassic Park (pictured far left) used state-of-the-art
clue to what dinosaurs ate is the shape of their teeth. The
animation and animatronics to bring dinosaurs to life. It was based
teeth of meat-eating animals and plant-eating ones differ
on a Michael Crichton novel in which dinosaurs are cloned using DNA from
markedly. Meat eaters have teeth for ripping flesh from
dinosaur blood found in mosquitoes which fed on the beasts and were
bones and for catching and holding prey, while herbivores
then trapped in amber, millions of years ago.
have teeth for chewing vegetation. Sometimes fossils
have been found with the contents of the
T-Rex Back To The Cretaceous showed
stomach also fossilised. This is how scientists
computer-animated and animatronic
were able to tell which animals and plants
dinosaurs in IMAX 3-D format.
various species of dinosaurs ate.
Palaeontologists have found that some
The BBC’s Walking With Dinosaurs recreated
swallowed stones to help grind up their
the world of the dinosaurs using the latest
food (the stones are called gastroliths).
n
The
1925
film
The
Lost
theories, computer animation and animatronics. The
In some cases fossilised faeces, known as
World showed the destruction
series is presented as a real-life wildlife documentary.
coprolite (pictured right), has also been found,
caused by a dinosaur let loose
giving important clues about dinosaur diet
in London. This would become
Walking With Dinosaurs ­— The Live
and digestion. The faeces can show bones
a standard plot device for
Experience used animatronic remotefrom dinosaur prey as well as leaves and
many films to follow including
controlled animals in a live show to give a sense of what
seeds from plants favoured by the animals.
such classics as Godzilla (1954)
the extinct creatures looked and acted like.
Did you know?
n The T-rex’s powerful jaws would have been
capable of ripping the roof off a car.
Sources and further study
Waking the extinct
Many of the first dinosaur skeletons found were incomplete. Attempts
to determine how the animals may have looked led to inaccurate
guesses. Gideon Mantell’s initial rough sketch of an iguanodon showed
the thumb spike as a horn on its nose. In 1854, reconstructions of the
iguanodon, megalosaurus and hylaeosaurus went on display at London’s
Crystal Palace. These were based on portions of skeletons found up
to that time, and showed the creatures walking on four legs like most
modern reptiles, with tails dragging on the ground. However, a dinosaur
find by William Foulke in the US in 1858, and dubbed Hadrosaurus foulkii,
showed there were some species that walked upright. It sparked debate
over whether dinosaurs walked on two legs or on four. Since then we
have come to understand that there were quadrupeds and bipeds
and most did not drag their tails on the ground.
Walkin
Dinosag With
The A urs —
Spect rena
acular
AC
Tickets ER ARENA: Ma
1993
1998
1999
Books:
n T he Complete Guide To Prehistoric Life
by Tim Haines (BBC Books)
nD
inosaur Atlas by John Malam and
John Woodward (Dorling Kindersley)
DVD:
nW
alking With Dinosaurs/ Walking With
Monsters (BBC DVD)
nD
avid Attenborough’s Lost Worlds
Vanished Lives (BBC DVD)
Reference:
n Encyclopaedia Britannica
n Collins Gem Dinosaurs (HarperCollins)
Did you
know?
y
availab
le from 18–29, 2011
o
r
v
For mor isit tickete Ticketek 132 8
49,
k
e detail
s, see d .com.au
inosaur
live.com
2006
Cl@ssmate
EVERY
TUESDAY
Email: [email protected] Phone: 9288 2542
Editor: Troy Lennon Graphics: Paul Leigh and Will Pearce