SES 4U1
Research Essay #2
The Evolutionary History of the Hadrosaurus
Olivia Bellingham
November 18, 2014
In the past, millions of species were eradicated off the face of the Earth from various reasons including natural disasters, the inability to adapt to the environment, and even food scarcity. This essay will cover the origin, diversification, adaptive characteristics of duck-billed dinosaurs more commonly known as hadrosaurids which have been extinct from Earth millions of years ago. Hadrosaurs were one of the many dinosaur groups whose bones were left to study and learn about the past. These creatures were also mainly studied for their tough skin as a “hadrosaur versus another dinosaur, you’re 31 times more likely to preserve skin.”
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The actual evolutionary origin of the hadrosaurs first began in the late cretaceous period roughly 70 million years ago. These dinosaurs “were members of the Ornithopoda, and close relatives and possible descendants of iguanodontid dinosaurs.” (Carroll, R.L. 1988). They lived in a variety of different environments which led to theories of why hadrosaurs had a crest shaped head piece. Some of these theories included the headgear being used as a snorkel, reservoir for warming air to breathe, and even farfetched theories such as fire breathing. These theories would only be possible through finding evidence of hadrosaurs, such as studying their remains. Luckily, hadrosaurs have a “large number in fossil records for many areas that they often appear in 75% of the dinosaur biomass in a region” as the population of them was also large. Most came and were found in Asia, Europe, and North America and began to be preserved during the cretaceous …show more content…
However, the truth can be uncovered using the keys of the past by analyzing what remains of the hadrosaurids. Fossil records were a key part in figuring out the basic anatomy of the dinosaurs. Scientists take what they find and use their theories to further give insight on how they might have lived, behaved, and eventually died out. It is important to learn about how creatures have evolved and adapted so we can use it to further the development of human understanding on the past. This may be our key to giving ourselves an edge to the future by learning about the
There are numerous counts of evidence showing the processes of evolution and how species ultimately evolved over millions of years. One of the most compelling hypotheses behind evolution was presented by Charles Darwin with his study of the Galapagos Islands. His study showing the various different birds and their different evolutions they went through to be able to survive the changes of weather and relocation. The birds he studied had to change in order to survive, or as he simply puts it: “Survival of the Fittest”. Evolution is the changing of past organisms to diversify and have the ability to fit better in their environment and survive. Diving into the dinosaur cladogram, studies have shown that ancient dinosaurs, over hundreds of millions of years ago, evolved into our modern day birds, and not lizards as many suppose. It became apparent that there would not be enough food for a 9 ton dinosaur to consume on a daily basis forever. So evolution occurred and dinosaurs evolved to become more efficient so they could survive more effectively in their
Some may argue that the T-Rex’s unusual anatomy was detrimental to its survival during the Cretaceous era but it actually quite the opposite. One thing the T-Rex is known for its massive disproportionate head, which seems useless but in reality, it helped it become a successful predator and scavenger. “From its thick, heavy skull to its 4-foot-long
Because dinosaurs are animals that lived millions of years ago, we are entirely dependent on the fossils that they have left behind for any understanding that we hope to gain. As any paleontologist will tell you, fossil hunting is difficult. There are no certainties, no guarantees. A certain amount of luck is as valuable as any scientific knowledge.
Joseph Tyrell made the first significant dinosaur discovery as the leader of his first expedition to find coal. He found Alberta’s “. . . first good dinosaur specimen – the skull of an Albertosaurus on June 9th, 1884.” (Tanke and Currie, 1198). The skull was very damaged by the extraction because Tyrell and his team were not paleontologists and had no experience in digging or preserving fossils. They did not even have the correct tools.
Trace fossils are able to examine the behavior of the dinosaur. According to Varricchio et al., (2007), dinosaur digging was developed over time. Simpson et al. (2010), reported new evidence of track fossils which indicated that dinosaurs used burrows to hunt for underground mammals. In addition, there were burrows that dinosaurs and mammals used as a shelter for parental investment, cold climate, and predators. This trace fossils were based on observations.
Eventually at some time or another, somebody has to imagine what a dinosaur looks like. Maybe it is a Paleontologist, maybe it is an Artist, maybe it is a Movie Maker. Basically, everyone is entitled to deciding in his or her mind what a dinosaur may look like. How do we form these ideas, though? And on what information are these ideas based on? The “picture” of the dinosaur – whether it’s in our mind, on paper or a motion picture film – helps us to understand how these animals behaved.
The author states that there is a considerable evidence that dinosaurs were endotherms and provides three resons. In contrast, the professor states that many scientists have problem with the author arguments and she oppses each of the author's reasons.
First, I would like to point out that the word dinosaur was not even invented until 1842 by Richard Owen in Plymouth, England. The word comes from the Greek words deinos, meaning fearfully great, and sauros, meaning lizard, which translates to fearfully great (or terrible) lizard. (Smithsonian Institute) For many centuries, before the word dinosaur was invented, these terrible lizards
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton demonstrated many dinosaur characteristics and behaviors. The dinosaurs were fictionally characterized to appeal to the readers. By examining the dinosaur’s appearance and behaviors of dinosaurs such as the duckbilled dinosaur, velociraptor, hypsilophodontids, dilophosaurs, Triceratops, apatosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex, stegosaurs, and maiasaurs distinguished whether the evidence existed in the field of paleontology. The behaviors and characteristics of the dinosaur are divided into three factors as behaviors that were supported, not supported, and no evidence to support or refute the behavior.
The first dinosaur fossil was found by Reverend Plot, in 1676, at the time it was believed to belong to a “giant” but was probably from a dinosaur although a report of this find was finally published by R. Brookes almost 100 years later in 1763. Theories suggest that it was a Megalosaurus dinosaur. It was after this time that scientist more specifically, paleontologist became interested in these giants. Even with today's advances in technology, scientists are not sure about the lifespan of some dinosaurs, some scientists believe that they might have lived for 200 years, up to present time. Apart from that a lot of people think that dinosaurs only lived in some parts of the world, but that is wrong and fossils have been found that indicate, dinosaurs lived in Antarctica.
The theropods, also called by some people the “bird footed dinosaurs,” were a group of saurischian dinosaurs that used to walk the earth making everything in it’s path tremble. They were blood thirsty killing-machines with razor sharp teeth, ripping and tearing apart their prey and its flesh effortlessly. Many people believe that all dinosaurs are extinct and that there are none left on earth, but technically they are wrong. Those frightening beasts that used to roam earth years ago have now evolved into today's vibrant, colorful feathered birds, replacing their teeth with beaks. Shuo Wang, and evolutionary scientist and his team examined three theropods that had baby teeth but as they grew older they developed a beak. “This demonstrates an
“Dinosaurs. Earth shakers and plunderers. Killing machines. The original experts in martial arts.” – (The Dinosaurs: The Monsters Emerge, PBS, 1992.) Most people, especially kids, know dinosaurs as big movie monsters and hostile creatures for the good guys to fight. But I never possessed that interest. My attraction came from the fact that these “alien” creatures beyond any human imagination were real animals that actually lived on this planet. That animals such as Therizinosaurus, Deinocheirus, Shunosaurus, Gigantoraptor, and Concavenator were all conceived by nature and not Hollywood. There are so many of them on record with such stunning characteristics, the most striking diversity, and the most remarkable evolutionary journeys known
One of the great unsolved mysteries in our planet’s history is the extinction of dinosaurs. We know they existed through fossil record and with the help of some geological evidence that supports various theories, some stronger than others, we start to narrow down the possible culprit. Dinosaurs evolved and existed for about 180 million years during the Mesozoic era. The Mesozoic is divided into three periods: the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. They thrived in the Triassic and Jurassic periods, but declined in the Cretaceous period. The Triassic period lasted about 245 to 213 million years ago where dinosaurs first evolved and all the continents were still connected, better known as Pangaea. The Jurassic period continued to the beginning of the Cretaceous period 144 million years ago. At this time, the continents started to break apart and dinosaurs increased in number. The Cretaceous period was the last period in the Mesozoic era and at the end of the period, some 65 million years ago, dinosaurs disappeared known as the K-T extinction event. We know this because fossils were found throughout the Mesozoic era, but not in Cenozoic era rock layers. Birds and other reptiles such as alligators survived into the Cenozoic era, better known as the Age of Mammals (Barrett & Raul, 2001).
While what you just read about dinosaurs is true, there have been some new conclusions reached based on the evidence.
Dinosaurs tails were 22m long 4 high and weighted about 30 tons. Dinosaurs weigh about 4.4 tones to 9.9 tones just depending on there size. Dinosaurs have ears, but their ears are not like human ears. Dinosaurs had holes in their heads and that was there ears they had. The smallest dinosaur could run as fast as a race horse at 40 mph and 65 kilometers per hour. T-rex could only run 18 mph and 29 kilometers per hour. T-rex’s could open their mouths to a jaw-dropping gape up to 90 degrees. Dinosaurs killed each other for food. Or they would be killed when they were fighting during battle. Meat-eating dinosaurs are known as therapods. Because they had sharp hooked claws on there toes. The largest dinosaur eggs were as big as a basketball and dinosaurs babies would not be able to get out without help from their