This book is dedicated the to the students of Vienna Junior Day and Boarding

School.

Text Copyright © 2010 by Elizabeth KenneyAll rights reserved.

Picture credits:1. www.texas-geology.com/Trassic%20flora.jpg 2. www.karencarr.com/auto_image/auto_image_mid/A.3. http://www.karencarr.com/tmpl1.php?CID=4114. www.dinosaurfact.net/Pictures/Coelophysis.jpg5. www.geology.wisc.edu/.../L19_Jurassic_Life.jpg 6. www.abc.net.au/.../palaeo/cretdinos040507.jpg 7. www.tepapa.govt.nz/dinosaursfromchina/Images/Legs.gif8. animals.m-y-d-s.com/rept/american-alligator/a.gif 9. static.howstuffworks.com/gif/willow/dinosaur-info4.gif 10.www.muralsforkids.com/images/trex.jpg11. http://www.internal.schools.net.au/edu/lesson_ideas/dinosaurs/images/macroplata.gif 12. www.publico.es/.../tras-los-fosiles/slideshow13.www.marshalls-art.com/.../giganotosaurus.jpg

14. www.rareresource.com/images/ankylosaurus.jpg15. www.livescience.com/.../igviewer.php?gid=6016. www.marshalls-art.com/.../Brachiosaurus.jpg17. www.dinosaur-facts.com/wordpress/wp-content18. www.rankopedia.com/CandidatePix/72755.gif19. www.weirdasianews.com/.../2009/01/pterosaur.jpg20. http://dogmadekate.wordpress.com 21. www.dinosaurfact.net/Pictures/Nothosaurus.jpg 22. www.karencarr.com/.../carr_mosasaurs.jpg23. www.rareresource.com/.../Stegosaurus1.jpg24. www.amnh.org/.../lg/markhallett_triceratops.jpg25. http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/dinosaurbasics/tp/12bestdinos.htm26. http://www.dinosaur-facts.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/supersaurus-herd-250x250.png27. www.libertymeadows.com/.../shanna06_v2.jpg28. www.marshalls-art.com/.../Coelophysis1.jpg29. www.forbidden-history.com/images/meteor.jpg30. http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/dinosaur-images-064-resize.jpg

When did dinosaurs live?Dinosaurs roamed the earth during the Mesozoic era, which lasted for about 185 million years. This era is broken down into three periods, the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. Different dinosaurs inhabited each of these periods.

When did dinosaurs live?

The Triassic period was the first period of the Mesozoic era. It was subject to violet climate changes and many evergreen plant species did well. The Jurassic period was in the middle of the Mesozoic era and was the peak of dinosaur existence. This period was lush with plant life and had a warm pleasant climate. The final period in the Mesozoic era was the Cretaceous period. During this period flowering plants emerged, and the seasons became much like they are today.

What is a dinosaur?There were different types of reptiles during the Mesozoic Era. Reptiles are cold blooded creatures that lay eggs. Dinosaurs were different from other reptiles because their legs were directly below their hips. This allowed some dinosaurs to walk upright. Most reptiles have legs that go out to the side.

What did dinosaurs look like?Dinosaurs came in many different shapes and sizes. Some were very large like the Giganotosaurus who was 3.9 meters in height and weighed 8 tons. On the other hand, some were very small like the Hesperonychus who was only about 50 centimeters tall and only weighted as much as a chicken.

What did dinosaurs look like?

No matter what their size, each dinosaur found ways to use its size to its advantage. For example, Giganotosaurus used its large size to overpower its prey so that it could eat.

Giganotosaurus: Cretaceous period

What did dinosaurs look like?Ankylosaurus: Cretaceous period

Many dinosaurs had a smooth slippery skin like other reptiles. However, some dinosaurs did not have reptile-like skin. Instead they had feathers or even tough armor. Dinosaurs like the Ankylosaurus were heavily armored in plates called osteoderms, so they were well protected everywhere except their bellies where they did not have osteoderms.

What did dinosaurs look like?

Others like the Sinosauropteryx had feathers covering their bodies.

What did dinosaurs eat? Many dinosaurs can be

grouped into one of two categories, plant eaters or

meat eaters. Plant eaters, or herbivores, only ate plant

life and had teeth that were specially designed for that purpose. Dinosaurs like the Brachinosaurus had teeth that were inwardly curved

for crushing foliage. Herbivores spent a great deal of their day eating in

order to get enough food to live.

What did dinosaurs eat?

Unlike the herbivores, meat eaters, or carnivores, ate only meat. Carnivores like Allosaurus had teeth that were sharp and pointy so that they could shred meat.

Could dinosaurs fly?

While dinosaurs could not fly, some reptiles could. One example is the Pteranodon, who spent a great deal of time soaring in the sky. Many of the flying reptiles had very large wing spans. Some were almost the size of a small airplane.

Could dinosaurs fly?

Another flying reptile was the Pterosaur. Pterosaurs were usually found near water because this is where their major food source, fish, was located. Pterosaurs were light and had wings made of tough leather-like skin. They also had a hollow bone structure for easier flying.

Could dinosaurs swim?

Dinosaurs could not swim, but there were some dinosaur-like reptiles that lived in the water. A good example of these swimming reptiles were the Plesiosaurs which had a long neck and four paddle-shaped flippers. Many of these swimmers had different body structures that helped them adapt to their life in water.

Could dinosaurs swim?

Other aquatic reptiles included the Nothosaurus and Mosasaurs. Nothosaurus were swimmers during the Triassic period, whereas Mosasaurs lived during the Cretaceous period.

How did dinosaurs defend themselves?

Dinosaurs needed to protect themselves not only from predators, but from other dinosaurs as well. Many dinosaurs had special body parts for this purpose including horns, plated armor, and horrible tails. The Stegosaurus had leaf shaped plates for protection and a spiked tail for fighting predators.

Stegosaurus: Jurassic period

How did dinosaurs defend themselves?

The Triceratops had three sturdy horns on the top of its head for defense as well as offense against predators. The Apatosaurus could use its strong lengthy tail to take down even a Tyrannosaurus if the situation called for it. Each type of dinosaur was unique and had its own unique ways of defending itself.

Did the dinosaurs have families?

Many dinosaurs travelled in families called herds. Herds made it easier for these groups to defend themselves and harder for predators to pick out just one dinosaur. Some of these dinosaurs also travelled in herds to find new food sources.

Supersaurus: Jurassic period

Did the dinosaurs have families?

Herds who hunt together are often referred to as hunting packs. The Velociraptors are the most famous pack hunters because of their high intelligence and hunting ability.

Coelophysis were pack hunters due to their small size. Living in a pack made it easier for these dinosaurs to take down larger prey.

Where did the dinosaurs go?

The dinosaur species became extinct over 65 million years ago. Scientists have many theories on why they became extinct, but nothing concrete has been decided. Many believe that something happened to change the physical environment like a meteor or an ice age.

Where did the dinosaurs go? Scientists called Paleontologists spend their days studying dinosaurs by digging up fossils. Fossils are the remains of ancient animals, in this case dinosaurs. Dinosaur fossils give us a link to the past and open up a future of new discoveries to find about how these amazing creatures lived.

Glossary•Carnivore = a flesh eating animal

•Cretaceous = last Mesozoic period lasting for 80 million years

•Extinct = the death of a whole species

•Foliage = the leaves of a plant

•Fossil = the persevered remains of a creature or plant

•Herbivore = an animal who eats only plants

Glossary

•Inhabit = to live in something

•Jurassic = second Mesozoic period lasting for 55 million years

•Osteoderms = boney plates that form a protective layer

•Pack = a group of meat eating animals that live and hunt together

•Paleontologists = people who study fossils

•Predator = an animal that hunts other animals for food

Glossary

•Prey = an animal hunted by others

•Reptile = a cold blooded, egg laying animal

•Species = a group of animals who can reproduce together

•Triassic = first Mesozoic period lasting for 42 million years

Dinosaur Name Pronunciation•Allosaurus: (AL-uh-SAWR-us)

•Ankylosaurus: (ANG-Ki-lo-SAWR-us)

•Apatosaurus: (a-pat-o-SAWR-us)

•Brachinosaurus: (BRACK-ee-uh-SAWR-us)

•Coelophysis: (see-low-fye-siss)

•Giganotosaurus: (Jye-ga-no-toe-sore-us)

•Hesperonychus: (Hess-peh-Ron-ih-cuss)

•Mosasaur: (mo-se-sor)

•Nothosaur: (NOTH-oh-sawrs)

Dinosaur Name Pronunciation•Plesiosaur: (plee-see-uh-sawr)

•Pteranodon: (ter-an-oh-don)

•Sinosauropteryx: (Sigh-no-sore-AHP-tor-ixPREE-ma)

•Sordes: (Sor-deez)

•Stegosaurus: (Steg-oh-sore-us)

•Supersaurus: (SOO-per-SAWR-us)

•Triceratops: (Try-serra-tops)

•Tyrannosaurus: (Tie-ran-oh-sore-us)

•Velociraptor: (vell-oss-ee-rap-tor)

.

Dear Students,

Hi my name is Elizabeth Kenney and I am a college student at Shenandoah University. I live in Virginia which is on the east coast of the United States. I am studying Business and Psychology.

I wrote this book with the hope of inspiring you to do more research about dinosaurs. They were a very interesting topic to me when I younger and I hope they are for you too.

I hope you all enjoying reading this book as much as I did writing it. Good luck with your studies.

Your Friend,

Elizabeth Kenney