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Dinosaur Paleobiology
Geology 331
Paleontology
Dinosaurs are
popular with
the public
Jack
Horner,
Montana
State
Univ.
Field Work
in Montana
A dinosaur “drumstick” in its field jacket.
Velociraptor
was a very
active
predator
Utahraptor waiting to ambush
Velociraptors hunted in packs
Abundant vascular canals in
dinosaur bone support the warm-
blooded theory
Thin section of dinosaur bone
www.bio.fsu.edu/erickson/histological_analysis.php
Heart Structure
2 Chambers:
Fish
3 Chambers:
Lizard
4 Chambers:
Birds & Mammals
Fossilized heart in an ornithopod.
CAT scan shows it has 4 chambers.
RV
LV
Evidence for Dinosaur Endothermy
• Erect and bipedal posture
• Bone histology – abundant vascular canals
• Head above the heart required high blood pressure and, thus, a four-chambered heart: 2 ventricles and 2 atriums.
• Fossilized four-chambered heart?
• Birds are descendants of theropods
• High latitude occurrences – how did they survive months of darkness?
• Predator:prey biomass ratio of 1:20 from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta similar to modern endotherms. Modern ectotherms are 1:3.
Dinosaur classification
Saurischian Ornithischian
Hip Bones: The Primary Homology
Difference Between the Two Major
Dinosaur Groups
Saurischian hip structure (theropod)
Ischium
Pubis
Saurischian hip structure (sauropod)
Ischium Pubis
Ornithiscian hip structure (stegosaur)
Ischium
Pubis
Excavating bones at Dinosaur
National Monument in Utah
A dinosaur
mummy
from
Mongolia
Coelophysis,
a late
Triassic
bipedal
ancestor
Tyrannosaurus rex, the
Cretaceous theropod everyone
loves to fear
Modern view of a T.rex
Peter Larson with Sue Hendrickson,
founder of the T. rex named “Sue”
I found it
first!
Sue on display in Chicago
T. rex, Stan Black Hills Institute
Tyrannosaurs, Carnegie Museum, 2009
Mechanical
model of T. rex
shatters a large
bone
Peter Larson with a Nanotyrannosaurus skull
at his lab at the Black Hills Institute, SD
More scenes at the
Black Hills Institute, SD
Compsognathus,
a chicken-sized
theropod. It’s
skeleton is similar
to Archaeopteryx.
The “compies” of
Jurassic Park.
Archaeopteryx,
the first bird. Its
skeleton is nearly
identical to
Compsognathus.
A feathered(?) Velociraptor
Apatosaurus or Brontosaurus, the
classic sauropod
Apatosaurus out for a stroll
A modern view of sauropods
Sauropod trackways showing no evidence
of tail dragging.
Diplodocus - a gracile sauropod
Sauropods, Carnegie
Museum, 2008
Sauropods, Carnegie
Museum, 2008
Sauropods, Carnegie
Museum, 2008
Sauropods, Carnegie Museum, 2008
Sauropods, Carnegie Museum, 2008 Looks like
your diet is
working!
Sauropods eating a coniferous forest
The massive digestive system of a
sauropod, note the large gizzard
Inside of sauropod gizzard, note the
gastroliths for grinding food
Sauropod gastroliths
Sauropods protecting
their young, South
America
Theropod tracks in Utah
Iguanodon,
an
ornithopod
A Cretaceous ornithopod
Crested hadrosaur or “duck-bill”
Duck-billed hadrosaur
Hadrosaur
barbershop
wall chart
Skull of a pachycephalosaur
Head butting by pachycephalosaurs
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus
Ankylosaurus
Protoceratops from Mongolia
Triceratops at the Smithsonian Institution