Page 88 - DINOSOUR ATLAS
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questions you ask
Q What was the smallest dinosaur? Q Can you tell if a dinosaur is male or female?
A The smallest dinosaur discovered so far is Microraptor, A The skulls of some herd-living dinosaurs such as
a birdlike hunter that was just 30 in (77 cm) long from its Protoceratops are of two types. Some are larger and more
nose to the tip of its long tail. Found in China in 2001 and elaborate and probably belonged to males that competed
2002, its fossils show the impressions of long feathers on for females, just like stags with their large antlers.
its limbs, suggesting that it could glide through the air.
Q Why are smoothed stones sometimes found
Q Did dinosaurs make sounds? with dinosaur bones?
A Some dinosaur skulls have big, bony crests that may have A Many plant-eating dinosaurs
been used to make noises. The crest of Parasaurolophus was swallowed stones (gastroliths)
linked to its nostrils, and by blowing air through it, scientists deliberately. The stones settled
have produced a trumpeting sound like that of an elephant. in a muscular stomach, or
gizzard, where they were ground
together to mash the tough plant
fiber to a pulp, becoming
polished in the process. Chickens gastroliths
swallow grit for the same reason.
Q How long did a dinosaur live?
A A big, slow, cold-blooded sauropod may have had a
maximum lifespan of about 200 years, but a fast-living,
warm-blooded hunter would have died much younger.
In practice, few dinosaurs would have died of old age.
Disease, injury, or hungry predators got them first.
field-worker exCavating dinosaur bones
Q How do paleontologists know where to look? Q What color were dinosaurs?
A Dinosaur fossils have been found all over the world. Many A Dinosaurs were once portrayed in drab greens and
have been discovered by accident, but the geology of each browns, but they could have been brightly patterned.
site often suggests where other fossils may lie. The most The males, in particular, may have sported vivid courtship
productive rocks are those that formed on land or in shallow colors, just like many male birds today. Females of smaller
fresh water, because dinosaurs were land-dwelling animals. species were more likely to be well camouflaged.
Q What was dinosaur skin like?
A Some rare dinosaur fossils include
impressions of the animal’s skin.
They show that many dinosaurs
were scaly, like modern reptiles,
but some, like Velociraptor, seem to
have been partly covered in feathers
or down—possibly for insulation.
Q Were dinosaurs warm- or cold-blooded?
A Giant plant-eaters were probably cold-blooded like
modern reptiles. Small meat-eaters could have been
warm-blooded, like birds, since this would make them more CoeloPhysis
agile. Insulating feathers would help them conserve heat.
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