Palaeontological Society of the Peace Kid`s Guide to Dinosaur

Name: ________________________
Palaeontological
Society of the Peace
Kid’s Guide to Dinosaur Hunting
in Northern Alberta
Equipment
Surface Collection Tools: Maps – Essential in case you get disoriented. Hard hat – Protects your head from falls in rocky areas or along cliffs. Useful for protection from the sun. Safety goggles – Protect your eyes from dust and debris better than sunglasses. Gloves – Protect your hands from rocks and brush and keeps them clean. Steel‐toed boots or rubber boots – Protect your feet from being crushed or from getting wet and cold. Layers of clothing – Layering your clothing is the safer than second guessing Mother Nature. Bring a light‐weight, water‐
proof, highly visible jacket with a hood. Specimen bags and newspaper – Used to wrap and protect fossils. Notebook and pencil – For drawing pictures and describing the fossil and its location. Food and drinks – Small portable snacks are convenient and water is best for rehydration. First Aid Kit – Never go out into the bush without a first aid kit! You should also tell someone exactly where you will be exploring and when you will return. ackpack or rucksack – Take a strong and lightweight bag for B
carrying all of your stuff. Extra Goodies: Camera –Take photos of the site, your fossil finds and all the fun you are having. Cell Phone – Some areas still have 911 service even if they do not have good phone reception. Excavation Tools: (You need a permit to use these!) Hammer ‐ Wooden handles are more resistant to shock than fibreglass handles which are in turn more resistant to shock than steel handles. Heavier heads are used when working with hard rocks. Pick ‐ These are used instead of hammers on soft rocks such as shale or clays. Picks are available with both a pointed end and a chiselled end for convenience. Chisel ‐ Small chisels are used for fine work while wide chisels are used for splitting rocks. Trowel and spade ‐ These are used to dig in softer locations with sand, clays or crags. Dental pick – These can be used for scraping rock off of fossils. Activities: Draw the perfect paleontological multi‐purpose tool and describe how it works. If you want, you may use an army knife as a model. Write a paragraph about how to gear up for a paleontological expedition. Design a special bag with labelled compartments that can hold the five most important items from your paleontological equipment. Explain why you chose them. Research the difference between surface collection and excavation of fossils. For a challenge, find out who can apply for an excavation permit in the province of Alberta. Draw a picture of yourself as a palaeontologist in the field working. Make sure you have some of the proper tools. Who do you think should own fossils? (The person who found them or the government?) Give three reasons why. Locations
Palaeontologists could dig for fossils all over the province of Alberta. However, they prefer to find fossils that are already partly dug up for them by nature or by industry. Fossils have been found in river valleys, creek beds, on cliff faces, at the bottom of ravines, in plowed fields, construction sites, roadcuts, gravel pits and mines. Dinosaur fossils have been found at:
Hythe – Tyrannosaur bones, adult and juvenile
specimens
Kleskun Hill
(east of Grande Prairie)–Microfossils: Hadrosaur,
Troodon, crocodile, fish, turtle and lizard bones.
Little Buffalo – Ichthyosaur jaw fragments
Peace River (south of the City)– Ankylosaur prints
and skin impressions
Pinto Creek (northwest of Hinton) – Hadrosaur
adult and juvenile specimens, Anklylosaur prints and
skin impressions
bones,
Pipestone Creek (Wembley) – Pachyrhinosaurus,
Raptor claw, Tyrannosaur tooth, Ceratopsian
footprint, insect in amber
Red Willow River (Elmworth) – Hadrosaur
(Kritosaurus), Hadrosaur track ways, Tyrannosaur teeth,
broken limb bones, Hadrosaur bones, adult and juvenile
specimens,
Spring Creek – (south of Grande Prairie) Juvenile Hadrosaur bone bed
Sylvester Creek – (southwest of
Grande Prairie) Hadrosaur bones,
In other unnamed sites,
palaeontologists have found:
Champsosaur ribs
and other fragments, mammal
teeth (Alphadon), armored dinosaur
teeth, Hadrosaur teeth, salamanders
and turtle shell fragments
Activities: Make a title for the map on the next page. Draw a compass rose for your map to show North, South, East and West. Draw a ruler and show the approximate scale of the map as 1 cm = 25 km Colour over the lakes and rivers so they are bright blue. You may need to refer to an atlas of Alberta for help. Create a legend for your map. Using the symbols on your legend, label the map with the location of as many local dinosaur sites as you can. You may need to refer to an atlas of Alberta for help. www.mapart.com
FOSSIL RECOGNITION A wise person once said that a hammer covered in mud is easily recognized as a hammer; the same is true of fossilized bones covered in matrix (extra rock). They can be spotted because of their shape and the fact that they often have a different colour and texture from the rocks around them. Once a fossil is found, palaeontologists can identify the dinosaur by the relative size and/or shape of specific bones. For example, a Tyrannosaurus rex skull looks very different from a Brachiosaurus skull. Sometimes the fossils of a dinosaur are so similar that the palaeontologist must identify the dinosaur by the size of the fossil. For example, here is a comparison of adult femur (thigh bone) lengths from Black Hills Institute of Geological Research (www.bhigr.com): Gorgosaurus Struthiomimus 81 cm 62 cm Tyrannosaurus rex 130 cm Edmontosaurus annectens 100 cm It can be very challenging to identify a dinosaur by its remains when there are parts missing. They may have been dragged away by predators, washed away by water or fallen somewhere else due to a landslide. It is easier for palaeontologist in the field to identify fossils if they have a good understanding of anatomy and physiology. Before you go dinosaur hunting, you may want to study some skeletons for reference. Activities: On the Pachyrhinosaurus skeleton, draw an arrow from each bone to its name. For help, use the Triceratops drawing on the previous page. Write the name of each of the following bones. If you get stuck refer to your Pachyrhinosaurus skeleton for help. More Fun Activities: Draw yourself a Pachyrhinosaurus (Modified from dragoart.com Triceratops) Make a cardboard Pachyrhinosaurus. First colour all the parts. Glue ONLY the FRONT paper pieces onto some thin cardboard (like a cereal box). Cut them out. Then glue the BACK paper pieces onto the back of the cardboard pieces. Fasten the head and the legs onto the body with brad fasteners. FRONT
BACK