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Be an Expert:
Paleontology 10/14/2008 |
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Be an Expert:
Paleontology 10/14/2008 |
1. Paleontology Vocabulary 5
Points
Define these words associated with Paleontology.
Paleontology
fossil
K-T extinction
Theory
extinction
herbivore
ammonite
prey
Pangaea
trace fossil
predator
Mass extinction
K-T boundary
Iridium
prehistoric
2. Famous Paleontologists. 10 Points
Research two of the paleontologists.
Answer the following questions.
3. Kinds of Paleontology 5
Points
Match the kind of paleontology to the type of fossils they study.
Kinds of Paleontology |
Fossils Studied |
|
| A. Paleobotany | _____ Pollen and Spores | |
| B. Palynology | _____ Microscopic Organisms | |
| C. Invertebrate Paleontology | _____ Plants: Leaves, Flowers, Wood | |
| D. Vertebrate Paleontology | _____ Tracks and Trails | |
| E. Paleoanthropolgy | _____ Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, Mammals: bones | |
| F. Micropaleontology | _____ Humans: Skulls, Bones, Tools | |
| G. Ichnology | _____ Invertebrates: Shells |
4. Paleontology Puzzle
5 Points
Here is what a paleontologist does to find and preserve the remains of ancient
plants and animals.
Number the steps in order.
_____ Take the fossil to the lab and remove the plaster jacket.
_____ First, find a dig site, a place where you see sedimentary rocks.
_____ Finally, fit the bones together. Think about how this animal might have lived
_____ Third, draw and describe the site before you dig.
_____ Second, use string to make a box, or grid, around the dig site.
_____ Dig to find fossils.
_____ When you find a fossil, place a plaster jacket around it to protect it.
_____ In the lab, glue any broken pieces of the fossil
5. How Are Fossils Formed?
10 Points
They are 7 ways fossils are formed.
Describe each way.
6. Fossil Formation 5
Points
Have students put describing the steps in fossil formation in the correct order:
____ minerals in the ground water slowly replaces the bones, teeth and claws with rock
____ a T rex dies near the edge of a river
____ the muscle and bones decompose
____ T rex’s body gets covered in sediment and is protected from scavengers and the weather
____ as millions of years pass, the layers of sedimentary rock erode away
____ minerals in the ground water cement the sediment together to form sedimentary rock
____ a paleontologist discovers the T-rex fossil!
7. Dinosaurs in North America
10 Points
Dinosaur fossils have been found all over the world.
There may be fossils of dinosaurs close to where you live.
Visit the Early Dinosaur Discoveries in North America found at:
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/dinodiscoveriesna.html
8. Dinosaur Names 5
Points
Many dinosaur names were created using Greek and Latin prefixes and suffixes.
The word dinosaur is an example.
Dino = Terrible saur = Lizard
Dinosaur = Terrible Lizard
1. Pterosaur
_______________________________________________
2. Iguanadon ______________________________________________
3. Brachiosaurus ____________________________________________
4. Suchmimus ______________________________________________
5. Stegosaurus _____________________________________________
6. Brontosaurus_____________________________________________
7. Triceratops ______________________________________________
8. Protoceratops ____________________________________________
9. Allosaurus _______________________________________________
10. Tyrannosaurus Rex _______________________________________
Prefixes
Suffixes
allo
other
(different) cheirus
hand
anato, apato
goose
chus
claw
ankyl
curved dactyl
reptile
archeo
ancient
docus
beamed
brachio
arms
dont,
don
tooth
bronto
thunder
ischian
hipped
carn
meat
lestes
stealer
cera
horns
mimus
mimic (act like)
coelur
hollow nathus
jaw
compsog elegant
pod,
poda
foot
deino, dino
terrible
raptor
plunderer (robber)
diplo
double rex
king
herb
plant saur,
saurus lizard
ichthy
fish
tops
face
iguano
iguana vore
eat
nodo knobbed
ornis, ornith bird
ovum egg
pelyco
basin
proto
first
pter
wing
stego plated,
covered
suchus
crocodile
tri
three
tyranno tyrant
9. Dinosaur Orders 5
Points
Dinosaurs are divided into two orders: Sauroischia and Ornithischia.
Describe each order.
10. The Mesozoic Era 5
Points
Dinosaurs existed during the Mesozoic Era.
Visit the "Introduction to the Mesozoic Era" found at: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mesozoic/mesozoic.htm
Fill in the chart
| MESOZOIC ERA | ||||
| Time Period | Million of years ago | Major Event | Plants | Animals |
| Cretaceous | Pangea existed | |||
| Jurrasic | cycads | Ichthyosaurs
plesiosaurs pterosarus |
||
| 248-206 mya | ||||
11.Adopt a Dinosaur
10 Points
Choose a dinosaur that you are interested in.
Use Adopt-a-Dinosaur found at: http://sciencespot.net/Media/dinosheet.pdf
12. Dinosaur Report
15 Points
Create a written report based on the information from Adopt-a-Dinosaur.
You may create a foldable book or a shape book.
1. What does its name mean? Often this will tell you
something important or interesting about the dinosaur.
2. What did your dinosaur look like?
3. How did its anatomy affect its life?
4. What did the dinosaur eat and how did it get its food? Where was this dinosaur in the food chain?
5. How did it walk (2 or 4 legs - slow or fast locomotion)?
6. Is there anything special about this dinosaur?
7. What is known about your dinosaur's behavior?
8. What animals might have attacked it?
9. What animals might it have preyed upon?
10. What type of dinosaur was it (how is it classified and what dinosaurs is it closely related to)?
11. When did your dinosaur live?
12. What was the Earth like at that time?
13. What was your dinosaur's environment like?
14. What other dinosaurs (and other interesting animals) lived in that environment?
15. What did the Earth's continents look like at that time?
16. Where have fossils been found?
17. When were they first found?
18. Who named the dinosaur?
19. Is there anything interesting about the scientist who named it?
13. Chronology Lab of Fossil
Hominids 10 Points
Chart the range of existence for each hominid species.
For best reults begin with the oldest hominid fossil on the list.
Orrorin tugenensis lived 6.1 MYA= 6,100,000 years ago to 5.8 MYA= 5,800,000 years
ago.
Begin in the lower left portion of the chart.
Move approximately 1 cm to the right for each species.
Put a small dot on the chart for the earliest fossil.
Put another dot on the chart for the latest fossil.
Connect those two marks with a vertical line.
Print the name of the hominid just to the left or the right of the vertical line
Materials
Hominid Chronology Data found at: http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/lessons/chron7.table.pdf
Blank Chart found at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/lessons/chron6.gr.pdf
Hominid Skull Photos found at: http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/lessons/homskull.html
Hominid Skull Drawings found at: http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/lessons/hom.draw.html
Bonus 5
Points
Add from the extended chart the different apes.
These ancient apes appartently branched off and evolved into their modern forms.
14. Evolution 10
Points
List 3 organisms that have not changed much since prehistoric times.
These organisms are sometimes called "Living Fossils."
List 3 organisms that have a didtinct fossil record of their evolutionary history.
15. Dating Geologic Time 5 points
Define Relative Dating and Absolute Dating.
What type of information can be learned from both techniques?
| Definition | Information That Cab Be Learned | |
| Relative Dating |
|
|
| Absolute Dating |
|
The Bone Wars
The "Bone Wars" were an infamous period in the history of paleontology when the
two pre-eminent paleontologists of the time, Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles
Marsh, were competing to see who could find the most, and most sensational, new species of
dinosaur. This competition was marred by bribery, politics, violations of American Indian
territories, and virulent personal attacks.
Othinel March and Edward Drinker cope started out as friends
and collected fossils together in the eastern United States. Legend says that their
well-known rivalry began when Marsh paid some of Cope's fossil diggers to send fossils to
him instead. There were other altercations between the two. Marsh in a rush to add to his
rivalry-leading tally of dinosaur discoveries, stuck the wrong head on a large Apatosaurus skeleton and deemed it a Brontosaurus. In 1870, Cope published a description of
Elasmosaurus (a pleisiosaur), and Marsh pointed out that Cope had placed the animal's
skull on the wrong end, on its tail!
For twenty years, Cope and Marsh attacked and slandered each other, and paid their crews
to find fossils as quickly as possible. The crews spied on each other and stole fossils.
They would sometimes sabotage each other's dig sites, and even their own sites, to prevent
the other crew from finding fossils there.
16. Bone Wars Venn Diagram
5 points
Complete a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast Marsh's and Cope's beliefs, attitudes and
research methods.
17. Whos's to Blame
10 points
Research one of the paleontologists - Edward Drinker Cope or Othniel Charles Marsh.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Biographical Information: Leidy, Cope, Marsh found at: http://www.explorepahistory.com/~expa/cms/pbfiles/Project1/Scheme31/ExplorePAHistory-a0l4z0-a_735.pdf Bone Wars found at: