Welcome to Dino 101, an online course

where you will learn about one of

the most fascinating and successful animal
groups to ever inhabit this planet.
Dinosaurs.
Together, we're going to explore the many
facets of the lives and behaviors or
these incredible animals.
We'll learn about their anatomy.
Family trees, eating habits, predatory and
defensive adaptations, and much more.
In addition, we'll put dinosaurs in
context with the geological history of
the planet.
We'll find out where they came from, and
what ultimately led to their demise.
[INAUDIBLE] You'll also have
the opportunity to explore a set of
your very own virtual fossils,
through our unique 3D fossil viewer.
In addition, you'll interact with
dinosaur bones and phylogenetic trees,
using an interactive module built just for
your use in this course.
I can't think of a better way to learn
about dinosaurs, and I hope you'll agree.
We're in a for a real adventure.
Let's start with the people
who study dinosaurs.
I'm lucky to be one of them.
We are scientists called Paleontologists.
Although scientists have been
intrigued with ancient life for
centuries, paleontology really came
into its own in the 19th century.
The first paleontologists learned about
dinosaurs by studying the fossilized bones
they left behind.
The word fossil literally means dug up,
but
more broadly, the word refers
to any evidence of ancient life.
Today we explore the lives and behavior
of dinosaurs using many other techniques.
Including comparative biology and
genetic analysis.
Paleontology is a dynamic and vibrant
science that utilizes all sorts of tools,
from hammers and
chisels to CT scanners and synchrotrons.
But our best resources
are the fantastic scientists.
Would've worked their entire
lives to expand our knowledge of
the greatest creatures
to ever walk the earth.
I'd like to introduce you to
one of these paleontologists.
Here's Dr.
Phil Curry from the University of Alberta.
He's at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of
Paleontology in Drumheller, Alberta.
Let's listen in and
hear what he has to say.
It's an incredible experience
to walk around museums like
the Royal Tyrrell Museum
of Paleontology and
wonder at the incredible
skeletons of these dinosaurs.
In this module, we will learn
the basics of what a dinosaur is and
I emphasis is rather than was,
because we still have thousands of species
of dinosaurs living with us today.
We just call them birds.
But let's talk about dinosaurs
in the classical sense.
They lived during a period of time
called the Mesozoic Era which started
about 250 million years ago and
ended about 65 million years ago.
Dinosaurs were the largest
to ever walk the Earth.
Magnificent animals by
anybody's definition.
Here are some questions immediately
jump to mind about them.
Were they the largest
animals that ever lived?
Were they all big?
What makes a dinosaur a dinosaur anyway?
And how can studying fossils tell us
about the diversity of their body forms.
Their diets, their physiology, and
even how they interacted or behaved.
You will learn the answers to these and
many more questions as we work
through this course together.
>> So lets test your knowledge
of what a dinosaur is.
Which of these animals are dinosaurs.
There might be more than one correct
answer, so check all you think apply.
A, Dimetrodom, B, a Sauropod,
C, Tiktaalik, or D, Mammoth.
There is only one dinosaur here and
that is the Sauropod, so
B is the correct answer.
All of these other animals are not
dinosaurs even though they are extinct.
Here once again is doctor Phil Currie.
He's going to explain what
the word dinosaur means.
Thanks Betsy.
The word dinosaur literally means
terrible lizard, but to different people,
dinosaur means different things.
So for example,
many people have the misconception that
any extinct large reptile is a dinosaur.
Others will even include any large
extinct animal including mammals like
mammoths and mastodons.
However, to a paleontologist, the word
dinosaur has a very precise definition and
this is based on very finickity, precise,
little anatomical details in the skeleton.
So if we look at this Gorgosaurus
behind me, we can see for example,
in the skull, when you look in front
of the eyes in the middle of the skull,
there's a very large opening
in the side of the face.
That's an air sinus.
And that's one of many characters
we look for when we look for
extinct animals to see if
they're dinosaurs or not.
Another major category in differences
in dinosaurs is in the hind limbs.
Basically the earliest dinosaurs pulled
their legs underneath their body and
by doing that they re-orientated
everything in their legs, and
their hips and their feet.
And as a paleontologist all we have to do
is look at the ankle of this animal and
we can tell that it is a dinosaur.
Because no other animal
shares those characters.
Except, of course,
their descendants, the birds.
>> The British naturalist Sir Richard Owen
invented the term dinosaur
over 107 years ago.
At that time, no complete dinosaur
skeletons had been found.
Only a few fragmentary specimens
from a small number of
different species where known.
There was a jaw, a partial hip,
and a few other bits and
pieces from the large
therapod megalosaurus.
There were teeth, vertebrae, and
limb bones from the ornithopod Iguanodon.
And finally, he had some ribs,
incomplete shoulder girdles,
a small portion of skull, and osteoderms
from the thyreophoran hylaeosaurus.
Each of these three dinosaurs
had previously been described in
the scientific literature, and
each had been identified as some
form of extinct giant reptile.
But Sir Richard Owen was the first to
realize that all three showed an unusual
combination of anatomical traits
that suggested that they were all
more closely related to each other than
any of them were to any living reptile.
Among the traits that Owen realized,
the trio of bizarre
prehistoric animals shared.
Were teeth that grew in sockets,
like modern crocodiles.
And erect limbs like mammals and birds.
These shared similarities, Owen reasoned,
could not simply be coincidental.
And he put forward the hypothesis that
Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, and Heleosaurus.
Belong together in a single natural group.
He named that group the dinosoria.
Dino meaning fearfully great, and
soria meaning lizards or reptiles.
A great deal has changed since
Owen coined the term dinosoria.
Our understanding of what makes
an animal a dinosaur has been defined.
The list of shared anatomical
features that unites
the Dinosauria has lengthened and
improved.
>> As we work our way through this module
we're going to learn about the bones of
the skeleton.
What some of the important characteristics
of dinosaur skeletons are, and
how we can use skeletons to tell
different types of dinosaurs apart.
Almost everything we know about dinosaurs
comes back to the fossilized bones,
bones are made of minerals, and
because they do not rot away as quickly
as muscle fiber, hair, or feathers,.
Bones are more likely to fossilize
than other body structures.
In order to understand dinosaurs,
you need to understand how skeletons are
put together and that's coming shortly.
We look at the skeletons of dinosaurs in
order to understand how many species there
were, the adaptations in each species, and
how ecosystems have changed through time.
In this lesson, we'll talk a lot about
different kinds of dinosaurs, and
their various adaptations.
Adaptations or
features or traits serve particular
functions and are the result of evolution.
For example, let's look at
a skeleton of a bird of prey.
>> Here's the skeleton of an eagle.
Which of these three features
do you think are adaptations?
Wings, large eyes, or sharp talons?
Check the box of every
answer you think is correct.
In fact, all of these are adaptations,
and are the result of evolution.
Wings enable an excellent
form of movement, flight.
Large eyes enable keen eyesight for
spotting prey.
And sharp talons allow for
the catching of elusive prey.