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Monday, August 5, 2019

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs
By Lily,Maria and Ana


                                  *Palaeontologists


A Paleontologists is a scientist who studies ancient things from the past.
Paleo (which means ancient) and ology (study of). There are two famous
paleontologist Mary Anning and Joan wiffen. Mary Anning was born in 1799
and grew up in Lyme Regis. She discovered dinosaur fossils where she
stayed. Joan wiffen was born on the 4th February 1922. Joan wiffen and her
family discovered the first dinosaur fossil in Nz.


                                  *Fossils


Palaeontologists study fossils to learn about dinosaurs. Fossils are
dead animals or plants. Sometimes fossils are footprints or poo, small
animals or insects get stuck in tree sap which hardens and traps them
forever. They are usually skeletons found embedded in rock.


                             
                              *Age of Dinosaur


Dinosaurs first existed 230 million years ago mya The time between
then (230 mya) and now (2019 AD), it split into different periods of time
. The Age of dinosaurs, also known as the Mesozoic Era, spans three
periods; Triassic periods (230-MYA).,Jurassic period (200-146 MYA)
and Cretaceous period (146-65 mya). Over this time different animals
evolved. 150 mya: Birds (avian) evolve from dinosaurs. Flowering
plants appear (140 MYA) , Snakes evolved from lizards (130 MYA) and
dinosaurs died out (65 MYA).
    


                     *What were the dinosaurs like?


Dinosaurs were varied group that evolved over time. There were 4
main groups of dinosaur ,called theropod, sauropod, thyreophorans,
cerapods. They are also classed as avians and non-avian. So if you
didn’t know that modification means


                                *Extinction Event


66 million yrs ago there was an extinction event which caused all
dinosaurs to die. Scientists have two ideas about how this happened.


  


                                         














Fossils

Fossils are dead animals or plants. They are usually skeletons found embedded in rock. Sometimes fossils are footprints or poo.

Small animals or insects get stuck in tree sap which hardens and traps them forever. Large animals can get trapped in ice, or their carcass gets trapped in layers of rock.

Over thousands of years,pressure builds up and the skeleton is dissolved by water under the ground. Next the mould left is filled with minerals that form rock. This rock shape is the fossil an exact replica of the dinosaur. This process fakes 10,000 years. Paleontologists find fossils when the top layer of dirt or washes away.

                                   

Tarawera and the White Island