Here Be Monsters! - Palaeontology For Kids Quiz

Answer: Greek

The term 'palaeontology' is taken from the Greek language and has its roots in three Greek words. The first part of the word 'palae' means ancient or old, the second part, 'onto' means animal and the last 'logy' means to study; so basically it means the 'study of ancient animals'... in a back-to-front sort of way! As a general rule, scientists called palaeontologists study animals that are older than twelve thousand years in age.

Answer: Utahraptor

The Utahraptor, whose name means 'Utah Predator' and is pronounced 'You-taw-rap-TOR', was first discovered in 1975. This animal, like all of the meat-eating dinosaurs, is known as a theropod dinosaur. Utahraptor was a fearsome beast that weighed in at just less than two thousand pounds, was surprisingly large for this type of dinosaur at nearly twenty five feet in length and lived in the area that is now the US state of Utah, from which it takes its name, during the early Cretaceous period. The other dinosaurs are all names that I have made up!

Answer: Iguanodon

The Iguanodon, pronounced 'Ig-WAN-oh-don', was a creature that lived in the Cretaceous period. It is believed that its large spike-like thumbs were used as defensive weapons to fight off predators. Iguanodon remains have been mainly found in Europe although some have been discovered in the United States.

This animal grew to up to just over thirty feet in length and weighed up to six tons.

Answer: Pterosaurs

Rhamphorhyncus, Quetzalcoatlus and Dimorphodon are all species of flying reptiles. These creatures are sometimes referred to as Pterodactyls which is the name given to this group that existed during the age of the dinosaurs. Pterosaurs are not strictly dinosaurs but they are closely related; in a similar way that you are related to your own cousins.

Answer: Diplodocus

Diplodocus, pronounced 'Dip-lo-do-KUSS', was a species of animal known as a sauropod. The first fossilised partial skeleton of Diplodocus was discovered in the US state of Colorado in 1877. The vast majority of the skeletons that can be seen in museums today are casts taken from an almost complete specimen discovered by scientists working for the American businessman Andrew Carnegie in 1901. Diplodocus lived during the late Jurassic period, was almost one hundred feet long and weighed in at sixteen tons. You need to eat a lot of plants to reach sixteen tons!

Answer: Plaster of Paris

Some fossils are very rare and some could be said to be unique. One characteristic that they all possess is fragility. Fossils are usually found in the more remote areas of the world and need to be transported safely back to the laboratory museums where they can be cleaned, identified and catalogued.

The best material to use for this has always been Plaster of Paris although other, newer and lighter materials, are beginning to appear for this purpose.

Answer: Ankylosaurus

The plant-eating Ankylosaurus whose name means 'stiffened lizard' and is pronounced 'Ang-ki-lo-SORE-us', was protected by an incredible armoured skin and a heavy, blunt club-like weapon at the end of its tail that any predator would have done well to have avoided; it would have been quite capable of crippling any predator that failed to move out of its way quickly enough! Ankylosaurus lived during the late Cretaceous period, was around thirty feet in length, the largest member of the family to have ever existed and weighed up to eight tons.

Answer: Dilophosaurus

Pronounced 'Di-loh-fo-SORE-uss', this small theropod dinosaur lived in the areas now part of North America and China. It takes its name from the pair of thin, sheet-like prominences on the top of its skull. There have been lots of examples of fossilised tracks being left by this creature that range from North America to southern Europe, but only a very few actual specimens have been discovered. Dilophosaurus was an early Jurassic dinosaur that grew up to twenty feet in length and which weighed up to eleven hundred pounds.

Answer: Plateosaurus

Plateosaurus, pronounced 'PLAT-eo-sore-uss', is an animal known as a prosauropod; these were a group of creatures that existed in the late Triassic and into the early Jurassic periods and shared a number of characteristics with their descendents, the Sauropod dinosaurs.

Many fossilised examples of Plateosaurus have been discovered and it is, for its age, one of the better known dinosaurs. Plateosaurus could walk either two footed or four footed, was around thirty feet in length and its remains have been discovered in Germany and France as well as in Greenland.

Answer: Feathers

Tyrannosaurus Rex was the undisputed king of the dinosaurs. The animal lived in the area that is now covered by the North American continent but many similar contemporary species have been found in other parts of the world such as the frightening Tarbosaurus which lived in China and Mongolia and Carnotaurus which lived in South America.

Although T-Rex had tiny front arms it had did have an extremely well developed sense of smell and it is this which has led to some theories that this ferocious animal wasn't so much a predator, but a scavenger. T-Rex also had eyes that faced partially forward which gave it binocular vision and depth perception; characteristics that would be essential for a predator.

This creature was also armed with some of the most fearsome teeth ever developed with some being upwards of twelve inches long.

The 'tyrant lizard' grew to a size of about forty five feet in length, stood around fourteen feet in height and weighed up to seven tons... That's an awful lot of meat to be eaten!