PALEO200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Ankylosauria, Iguanodon, Osteoderm

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Paleontology
• Course: PALEO200
• Professor: Angelica Torices

Document Summary

Fossil means dug up or any evidence ancient life. Dinosaurs lived during the mesozoic era (250 million 65 million years ago) Dinosaur: terrible lizard : misconception: any extinct large reptile is a dinosaur o. Palaeontologists look at anatomical differences/characters like air sinuses, hind limbs (able to pull legs underneath body) Sir richard owen coined the term dinosaur o. First to realize all the remains he found shared anatomical traits. Teeth that grew in sockets, and erect limbs. Bones are made of minerals and more likely to fossilize than other structures. How small were the smallest dinosaurs: majority of dinosaurs were no bigger than the large land mammals today o. Some of the smallest dinosaurs were carnivores while some of the biggest were herbivores. Basic arrangement of bones are the same throughout vertebrates. Looking at modern animals bones help us to understand function and adaptations. Skull composed of many bones: orbits: opening of eyes, nares: opening for nose o.