Dinosaur Unit Outline and Standards Correlations
Dinosaurs and Southern California
Answers
Museum Visit Worksheet/Answers
Part A: Exhibit Investigation
Answers will vary depending upon which dinosaurs were selected. Refer to background information or references to confirm answers.
Part B: Exhibit Investigation
Select one or more of the following sections (I-V) and answer the questions.
I. How do we know?
a. What are fossils?
remains of plants or animals that lived long ago
b. What types of things become fossilized?
bones, teeth, skin impressions, footprints, plant food, waste, embryos.
c. In what ways did dinosaurs communicate? For what purpose? Did they make noise?
use of horns or crests
attract mate, warn rivals they may have
d. Did dinosaurs care for their young? How do we know?
fossil sitting on top of eggs
juvenile footprints, sheltered inside herd
e. Did dinosaurs fight? How do we know?
probably, however most were plant eaters and some meat-eaters may have been scavengers
toothmarks on bones, locked in battle as they died
II. Triassic Period
Describe conditions during the Triassic time period. (Size and position of continents, seas, climate, plants, dinosaurs and other animals) III. Jurassic Period Describe conditions during the Jurassic time period. (Size and position of continents, seas, climate, plants, dinosaurs and other animals) IV. Cretaceous Period Describe conditions during the Cretaceous time period. (Size and position of continents, seas, climate, plants, dinosaurs and other animals) V. Extinction and the Movie Many animals became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous time. b. Movie versions of several dinosaurs are presented. Choose one of these dinosaurs and compare the movie version with the real-life version.
a. land mass—single land mass, Pangea
b. climate—warm, wet
c. dino characteristics—upright, legs underneath, scaly skin, laid eggs
d. plants—cycads, ferns, no flowers, or deciduous trees
e. dinosaurs—small, e.g. eoraptor, herrerasaurus, plateosaurus
f. other animals—crocodile-like reptiles, dicynodonts
a. land mass—two large continents--laurasia, gondwana
b. climate—warm but varied climate
c. plants—conifer, ferns, cycads
d. dinosaurs—allosaurus, dilophosaurus, etc.
e. other animals—pterosaurs, sea reptiles, archaeopteryx-bird ancestor
a. land mass/sea—resemble today's, sea levels high, polar regions, deserts, swamps
b. climate—warm, range from hot to cool
c. plants—flowering plants
d. dinosaurs—giganotosaurus, stegoceras, pachycephalosaur
e. other animals—modern insects, pterosaurs, fish, mammals, turtles
a. What caused the extinction?
Poison plants, gas, freezing weather and volcanic explosions, asteroid
Tell what was similar and what was different.
Why do you think changes were made for the movie version?
Answers will vary, but may include: cost of production; to create a more exciting presentation.