Joan Wiffen

                                                              

Joan Wiffen is a fossil hunter in Nz. She was the first person to find a fossil in Nz.

Joan wiffen was born on the 4th of February 1922,she lived in Nz. She was married to Pont Wiffen and had two kids. Their name was Christopher and Judith. She is a Paleontologists. The first fossil she ever had was when she was given an ammonite,that's what made her interested.

Joan Wiffen was the first to find a fossil in New Zealand. In 1975 Joan found a dinosaur fossil,in Mangahouanga stream in hawkes bay. That was a dinosaur tailbone from a theropod,she found six more species. Joan,her family and friends explored with her. They would help her open the rock with special tools to split the rock open, because all the fossils are in the rock. When they would find the rock they would carry it to the car.

An australian paleontologists dr Ralph Molnar confirmed that it was a dinosaur bone in 1980. Other people were looking for fossils in Waikato and on the Chatham islands. Brendan Hayes found a very small finger bone of a theropod in South port waikato,Dr Greg Browne found dinosaur footprints in Northwest Nelson and Dr Jeffrey Stilwell found several dinosaur bones in Tioriori,Chatham islands.

Joan Wiffen died on the 30th of June 2009. People remember her by the stories,books and many other things. Her fossil is kept safe in the university of auckland. Some of her other fossils are at National paleontological collections at GNS science in lower hutt. The first one is displayed at Te papa.

We will remember her and the fossils she found. Her fossils are kept safe at the University of Auckland and many more.

Brainstorm and plan.

Room 7 Dinosaur Knowledge

Room 7

Dinosaur knowledge

Prior Knowledge	In 2 weeks, we learnt that...
Animal Predator Dino is the root word ‘Saurs’ means something Species  Extinct  Huge Large bones Long necks Eggs  Sharp teeth Long tails Eat people Different kinds Spikes Horns Mammals 4 legs	Bipedal means 2 feet and quadruped means 4 feet. Some dinosaurs are bipedal and some are quadrupeds . Some can change between the two stances. They are sturdy. Theropod is a 3 clawed dinosaurs Dinosaurs are warm-blooded, which means their blood temperature is always the same Carnivore means a meat eater Herbivore means a plant eater Omnivore means it can eat plants and meat Some dinosaurs are huge and some are small. Typically, huge dinosaurs were sluggish (slow).  Dinosaurs died out 66 million years ago. They started existed 230 million years.  They died because of an extinction event, most people think this was because a meteor hit the Earth.  Dinosaurs legs go out the bottom of their hip bones, whereas reptiles bones go to the side of their hips. Reptiles do not have an extra hole in their skull, but dinosaurs do.  Mary Anning found lots of fossils on a cliffside in England in the 19th century. She was born in 1799 and died in 1847. She survived a lightning strike as a baby. In 1824 she found the first fossil.	Non-avian dinosaurs are dinosaurs that are not birds. Avian means birds. Metabolism means how fast or slow your body converts food into energy Diverse means a big range Modifications means changes. Dinosaurs have modifications such as spikes, armour, horns or crests.  Clade means family. Lineage means ancestors/descendants  Paleontologists are scientists that study ancient things including dinosaurs There are 4 main groups of dinosaurs; theropods, sauropods, ankylosaurus and pterosaurs. Titanoboa was top of the food chain after the dinosaurs died. It killed people by constricting people. It spent most of its time in the water because it was super heavy. It was 13m long, as big as a bus.  Hominins existed when 7-6 million years ago, the first humans to walk on 2 feet.  People did not exist when dinosaurs existed.	Adaptation is something that changes over time.  Ecology - how animals relate to each other Fossils are made when dinosaurs die and their bones get trapped in rock or mud. The bones break down over time but leave a mould, which is filled with rock. This becomes the fossil.  Dinosaurs sometimes eat each other.  There were 3 periods of time that have dinosaurs. This is called the ‘age of dinosaurs’ also known as the ‘Mesozoic Era’; Triassic period, Jurassic period, and Cretaceous period.  Then there were 3 more periods in time, “Age of mammals”, also known as ‘Cenozoic Era’; Paleogene Period, Neogene period and  Quaternary period. Dinosaur fossils have been found on every continent, including Antarctica. Joan Wiffen found the first dinosaur fossil (a theropods tailbone) in NZ in 1975, in Hawkes Bay. She died in 2009.  Dinosaurs laid eggs and they lived in family groups.