Dinosauria Quiz Challenge - How Much Do You Know? | Paleontology

Answer: Mesozoic

The dinosaurs roamed the Earth for about 185 million years (over ninety times longer than us humans have ruled the planet). The Mesozoic Era is divided into the Triassic (250-206 mya), the Jurassic (206-144 mya) and the Cretaceous (144-65 mya). During this whole period, dinosaurs were masters of the land and at the same time, reptiles also ruled the seas and the skies.

Answer: hip

The classification was introduced by British geologist Harry Seeley, after he had closely examined many dinosaur skeletons. His main observation was that each and every dinosaur had either a bird-like hip or a lizard-like hip.

Answer: Saurischia & Ornithischia

The Saurischian order (the "lizard hipped" dinosaurs) includes all the meat-eating dinosaurs (the Theropods) as well as the large plant-eating Sauropods, while the Ornithischian order (the "bird hipped" dinosaurs) contain a much more diverse array of dinosaur groups: the Ornithopods, the Pachycephalosaurs, the Ankylosaurs, the Ceratopsians, and the Stegosaurs.

Answer: China

Many centuries ago, when the Chinese began to uncover strange-looking bones, they interpreted them as the evidence of the dragons' existence. These "dragon" bones have been ever since used as ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine. As much as we would like to believe that dragons are real, a closer inspection of the bones clearly shows that they are simply the fossilized remains of the "Mesozoic dragons".

Answer: Megalosaurus

Megalosaurus was named in 1822 by William Buckland, Professor of Geology at the University of Oxford, although the term "dinosaur" was to be coined 20 years later by leading paleontologist Richard Owen. Still, Parkinson correctly attributed the fossil bones he had discovered to a giant reptile, therefore the name Megalosaurus ("great lizard").

Answer: it is not known for sure

This is one of the main debates regarding dinosaurs that has troubled paleontologists for many decades. The cold-blooded theory is based on the fact that dinosaurs are close relatives of reptiles and all modern reptiles are cold-blooded. On the other side, scientists who believe dinosaurs were warm-blooded argue their theory with the fact that most dinosaurs were bipedal, suggesting an active life - a main feature of today's warm-blooded animals. Until further discoveries are made, the reasonable answer (perhaps even the right one) would be that some dinosaurs were cold-blooded while others were warm-blooded.

Answer: Stegosaurs

Stegosaurs were not the most successful group of dinosaurs, since they lasted only until the Early Cretaceous. The main characteristic of their bulky bodies was the two rows of dorsal plates or spines running along their back. It is speculated that these would heat up and would be used for displaying, as a means of intimidating predators. Pachycephalosaurs were exclusively bipedal, Ornithopods were mainly bipedal whilst Ceratopsians also included several primitive bipedal species like Psittacosaurus and Microceratops.

Pachycephalosaurs were exclusively bipedal, Ornithopods were mainly bipedal whilst Ceratopsians also included several primitive bipedal species like Psittacosaurus and Microceratops.

Answer: Corythosuarus

Corythosuarus ("helmet lizard") - a peaceful creature among nasty killers: Ceratosaurus ("horned lizard"), Carnotaurus ("meat-eating bull") and Carcharodontosaurus ("shark tooth lizard").

Answer: they share a hunter - prey relation

Protoceratops was a primitive representative of the Ceratopsian (horned dinosaurs) group, while Velociraptor belonged to the "raptor" family, a vicious yet smart group of predators. They both lived in Central Asia during the Late Cretaceous. The feeding habits of the fearful raptors were exposed by an amazing discovery: the fossil of a Velociraptor locked in a deadly struggle with a Protoceratops.

It is now generally accepted that the raptors used to hunt in packs, giving them the advantage over larger species.

Answer: Dinosaur Cove

Dinosaur Cove is situated in southeastern Australia, and was the link which connected the continent with the frozen Antarctica around 110 million years ago. Despite the weather being warmer than today, dinosaurs which lived in this area still had to endure a harsh sub-polar climate. Surprisingly, the site is very rich in Cretaceous fossils, including the remains of Leallynasaura as well as midget sized Allosaurus, Triceratops and ankylosaurs. The other three sites are also packed with dinosaur bones: the Red Deer River Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta (a World Heritage Site) include the fossils of Albertosaurus, Centrosaurus, Euoplocephalus and Lambeosaurus; the valley of the Nemegt Basin from the vast Gobi desert contains the fossils of Tarbosaurus, Opisthocoelicaudia, Prenocephale and several raptors; the Bernissart site in Belgium is known as the "graveyard" for a whole herd of Iguanodons.

Answer: to help digestion

Sauropods (commonly known as long-necked dinosaurs) were peaceful plant-eaters so they wouldn't have had any need for claws; their size alone (they were the largest animals ever to walk the land) was the best defense against any aggressive predators. However, their huge bodies needed a lot of energy, so they had to feed almost continuously.

They would indeed swallow gastroliths, or stomach stones, but obviously for another reason than to soothe their hunger. The gastrolithe would act like grinders, breaking the food into smaller pieces, thus speeding up the digestion.

Answer: Apatosaurus

Only after many Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus fossils were analyzed, did paleontologists realize that they have given two names to the same species. In spite of Brontosaurus becoming the best-known of all "long neck" dinosaurs, it had to be renamed to Apatosaurus ("deceptive lizard") following the scientific rules, since this was its first given name.

Answer: Maiasaura

Maiasaura - the "good mother lizard" - gets its name from the special care manifested in raising its hatchlings, clearly shown by the evidence found at nest sites. Maiasaura is also known for having a homing instinct, as the herds returned to the same nesting grounds.

Answer: Compsognathus

Compsognathus measured only 1m (3 ft) and lived in the late Jurassic period. Few Compsognathus fossils have been discovered, but the tiny skeleton found in Germany in the 1850s was the first complete dinosaur skeleton ever to be found.

Answer: Styracosaurus

Styracosaurus thrived during the Late Cretaceous period (about 70 million years ago) in North America. Its six large neck spikes, along with the long nose horn, gave this animal an imposing posture and most certainly proved an effective defense against the large predators that roamed the land.

Answer: Lesothosaurus

With little insight and some information about how the names of the dinosaurs are given, this question should have been a piece of cake. Thus, most names have the particle "saurus", meaning lizard in Greek. Alamosaurus, named after the famous American fort, was one of the last large sauropods; Albertosaurus, named after a Canadian province, was a close relative of T-Rex; Edmontosaurus, named after a Canadian city, was an ornithopod, living in huge migrating herds.
Lesothosaurus on the other lived in Southern Africa and was a primitive "bird-hipped" dinosaur.

Answer: Therizinosaurus

Therizinosaurus was a 10-12 meter long dinosaur, whose skeleton may look at a first glance as if it combined the bones of several different species (it was first classified as a giant turtle). Its 70 cm claws would have made him a deadly predator, but paleontologists have found clues that indicate that it was in fact feeding on plants. Should this be true, the enormous claws would be used for grabbing branches, in mating rituals and for defense.

Answer: Baryonyx

Baryonyx is not your most ordinary dinosaur: it had a long snout, much like a crocodile's, a long straight neck (unusual for a 10 m long meat-eater) and 96 sharp teeth. This strange looking creature is so far the only known dinosaur to have eaten fish. And there is no argument about this fact since the remains of its last meal (a large fish of the Lepodotes species) have been found fossilized in its ribcage.

Answer: Ankylosaurs

Ankylosaurs were a successful group of herbivorous dinosaurs scattered all over the globe (even Antarctica). They were very diversified in size and shape, ranging from 2 meters (7 ft) up to 11 m (36 ft). They were very slow but their virtually impenetrable armor gave them the advantage over the hungry carnivores.

Answer: Deinonychus

Deinonychus was the almost perfect killing machine of the Early Cretaceous. It was rather small (10 ft - 3 m) compared to some of its other meat-eater contestants, but its deadly "weapons" fully compensated for the size aspect. Deinonychus was built for speed and its large eyes suggest it had a good eyesight, these being essential characteristics of a successful hunter. Deinonychus also came equipped with a full slicing package: a large head and powerful jaws packed with sharp, serrated teeth, curved inside the mouth, long arms with three-fingered hands, ending in sharp talons and of course the 13cm long razor-sharp, curved claw on the second toe of each foot. Since it was among the smartest dinosaurs around, Deinonychus could use its flesh-tearing claw to kill its unfortunate prey in uniquely terrifying ways. And taking into account that Deinonychus probably hunted in packs, there was virtually no escape from its killing frenzy.

Answer: Charles Marsh

The fierce competition between Othniel Charles March of Yale University and Edward Drinker Cope of the Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia went into history as the "Dinosaur Wars". This fossil hunting duel was "fought" on the badlands across Montana, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. Together, Cope and Marsh's findings had an important role in the development of the new discipline of paleontology.

Their list of new uncovered species is impressive, inscluding Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Camarasaurus, Coelophysis and Ornithomimus.

Answer: birds

It is now generally thought that birds evolved from small, bipedal dinosaurs. The missing link between the two groups has been solved with the recent discoveries of tiny theropods (small meat-eating dinosaurs) like Sinosauropteryx, covered in feathers.

Answer: all of these

Tyrannosaurus Rex has fascinated people ever since its discovery in Montana, back in 1908. A very powerful animal, T-Rex would have been a fright to any living creature: it had a large brain and keen eyesight, a strong, flexible neck, a bone-breaking bite and the famous 20 centimeter (8 inch) long teeth.

However, it was slow and his unbelievably short forearms would have been too weak to be useful for hunting. These facts made scientists conclude T-Rex was mainly a scavenger. Contrary to popular belief, T-Rex was not the largest predator ever to roam the earth, being outmatched by dinosaurs like Spinosaurus, Giganotosaurus and probably others yet to be discovered.

Answer: 65 mya

The endless debates about the great dinosaur extinction at the end of the Cretaceous have not yet come up with a clear answer for the mystery. Still, the most probable cause would have been the huge meteorite which is believed to have hit the Yucatan Peninsula just around 65 million years ago.

Answer: 700

About 700 dinosaurs have been recorded so far, but only about half of these species are based on complete fossil remains. Yet, this figure is not reflecting the whole dinosaur fauna if we are to take a look at present groups of animals like mammals and birds, whose number of known species is five and ten times larger, respectively .
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