How Do We Know What We Know About Dinosaurs?

What were the dinosaurs?

 terrestrial reptiles

- one of the most successful groups of organisms that have ever lived

How are they related to the other reptiles?

- one of the distinguishing features = stance

What are the major groups?

- the “lizard hip” and “bird hip” dinosaurs

What was earth like when the dinosaurs were alive?
 

What were the environments in which dinosaurs lived like?

- reading the rocks

How do we know what they ate?

Teeth

 coprolites

How did they reproduce, and did they care for their young?

How smart were the dinosaurs?

Did they make any sound?
How did they move, and how fast could they run?

What did they really look like?

 - feathers and scales

 - color?
 

What happened to the dinosaurs?

 - K/T mass extinction
Mass Extinction => evidence
bolide impact
iridium
”shocked quartz”
spherules