Dinosaurs As Endotherms

This researcher proposes that the dinosaurs did not die of heat, in fact she thinks the opposite, that they froze to death instead. Both articles have the same idea about a meteorite hitting the earth yet there is no concrete evidence as to what caused the meteorite to strike and what it did when it got here.

Although the Ediacaran period was well before the first appearance of dinosaurs it shows that there were fossils many years ago. When dinosaurs first appeared things had changed there was still shallow water which meant that bones could be fossilized.

While the author of the article believes that Brachiosaurus were aquatic animals, the professor disagrees with this statement. The professor points out that in spite of the fact that some species of dinosaur would spend a great deal of time in water, there was no possible that Brachiosaurus were aquatic ones. To strengthen her point, the professor provides sufficient evidence respectively to the points made in the article.

Dinosaurs ruled the earth for over 65 million years and thankfully for the human race, they became extinct. Ultimately, only a major catastrophe could completely wipe out an entire species, let alone an entity of dinosaurs and the debacle on the causes of dinosaur extinction have flooded the minds of paleontologists for centuries. Geologist and zoologist Stephen Jay Gould published “Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs,” to compare scientific and speculative causes of dinosaur decimation. Personally, I found this passage very informational and enjoyed reading it. Gould provides three theories that capture the reader’s curiosity, allowing room for pondering in one’s mind.

Sedimentary rocks interpret dinosaur habitats through encased environmental structures of the past. Through sedimentary rocks, paleoecologists’ can examine the arranged formation of sedimentary structures to specify what type of environment the dinosaurs’ lived in. An example of a specific sedimentary rock structure can be seen through formed weathering and ripple marks by how wind and sand formed distinct patterns in the past layered sediment. These arrangements provide interpretations on the structure of the sediment and the habitat of encased fossils, through modern day comparisons

The reading passage proposes three theories which support the idea that a dinosaur which is called edmontosaurus survived in the winter by migrating to the south, the more hospitable region than the extremely cold in the North Slope. However, the professor in the listening respectively contradicts each theory in the reading passage by using strong evidence as support.

In order to find evidence of the transition from fish to land animals, the author and his colleagues chose to focus on 375 million year old rocks. In 2004, they studied sedimentary rock on Ellesmere Island in Canada’s Arctic as they thought that the rocks there would be exposed and untouched by humans, which would be ideal for fossil excavations. They studied sedimentary rocks (limestone, sandstone, siltstone and shales) because these

Animals differ in their abilities to regulate body temperature (thermoregulation). We sometimes use the terms "cold-blooded" or "warm-blooded." Most reptiles feel cold to the touch, while mammals and birds often feel warm.

The reading and the lecture are both theories of why dinasours were endotherms or cold blooded aninmals. Whereas as the author of the reading states that there is not enough evidence to assume that dinosaurs were endotherms. The lecture casts doubt on the main points made in the reading by providing three reasons.

Every so often a discovery is made that attempts to shake up pre-conceived notions of how the dinosaurs actually lived or how they came to be. On June 22, 2000, in Oregon, scientists announced the discovery of the oldest known animal to have feathers. Though no records indicate how the age of the animal was determined, the

            At a time, scientists believed all dinosaurs were cold-blooded.  However, with a recent discovery of a dinosaur found with a fossilized heart in the northern part of South Dakota in 1993, many paleontologists are starting to think that there were some dinosaurs that were warm blooded.

There were over 1,000 different species of dinosaurs (“Dinosaurs”) that lived and evolved for almost 185 million years (“Dinosaur Facts”). Dinosaurs were some of the largest and most mysterious creatures to walk the Earth. Dinosaurs have helped scientists to understand the Earth and it 's past by studying different types, how they lived, their characteristics and what caused their mass extinction.

Dinosaur extinction: An analysis of events and theories that possibly led to the dinosaurs' demise.

These techniques led to the discovery of the boundary between the two eras. A single thin layer of clay found within predominantly limestone rocks established this. By comparing the marine life found in, above, and below the clay, the marine life, like the dinosaurs, had been terribly affected by the extinction event. The percentage of life in the upper layers was dramatically lower than that in the lower. This was far more compelling than what was suggested by dinosaur’s fossils.

Rapid climate change also ends up on the suspect list of possible dinosaur extinction events. During the latter part of the Cretaceous Period continents broke up causing volcanoes to erupt and fill the sky with gas and ash resulting in a drastic climate change (“Dinosaurs Climate Change and Biodiversity”). The shifting of continents changed the Earth’s landscape, altering weather patterns and overall climate (“Dinosaur Extinction Theories”). Also, over a long period of time, climate gradually changed. Ocean habits changed, temperatures grew much more extreme causing scorching summers and frigid winters (Norell, Dingus, and Gaffney). Radical temperature changes like these led to a green-house effect, making life for the dinosaurs a lot