Paleontology: Dinosaurs - Introductory

Dig into this list about dinosaurs and learn to think like a paleontologist. You'll review different types of dinosaurs, fossils, herbivores and carnivores, bipeds and quadrupeds, and more.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. allosaurus
    late Jurassic carnivorous dinosaur
  2. ankylosaurus
    having the back covered with thick bony plates
  3. apatosaurus
    huge quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaur common in North America in the late Jurassic
  4. asteroid
    a small celestial body composed of rock and metal
  5. biped
    an animal that walks on two legs
  6. carnivore
    any animal that feeds on flesh
  7. cast
    object formed by a mold
  8. Cretaceous
    relating to the period from about 145 to 66 million years ago
  9. dinosaur
    an extinct terrestrial reptile of the Mesozoic era
  10. diplodocus
    a huge quadrupedal herbivore with long neck and tail
  11. excavate
    recover through digging
  12. extinct
    no longer in existence
  13. fossil
    the remains of a plant or animal from a past geological age
  14. habitat
    the type of environment in which an organism normally lives
  15. hadrosaur
    any of numerous large bipedal ornithischian dinosaurs having a horny duck-like bill and webbed feet; may have been partly aquatic
  16. herbivore
    any animal that feeds chiefly on grass and other plants
  17. iguanodon
    massive herbivorous bipedal dinosaur with a long heavy tail
  18. Mesozoic
    relating to the era from about 252 to 66 million years ago
  19. paleontologist
    a specialist in fossil organisms and related remains
  20. paleontology
    the earth science that studies fossil organisms
  21. predator
    any animal that lives by preying on other animals
  22. prehistoric
    belonging to or existing before recorded times
  23. prey
    animal hunted or caught for food
  24. quadruped
    an animal especially a mammal having four limbs
  25. reptile
    a cold-blooded vertebrate including snakes and lizards
  26. sauropod
    very large herbivorous dinosaur of the Jurassic and Cretaceous having a small head a long neck and tail and five-toed limbs; largest known land animal
  27. scavenger
    any animal that feeds on refuse and other decaying matter
  28. skeleton
    the structure providing a frame for the body of an animal
  29. stegosaurus
    a genus of dinosaur with bony plates on its back and a spiked tail
  30. Triassic
    relating to the period from about 252 to 201 million years ago
  31. triceratops
    huge ceratopsian dinosaur having three horns and the neck heavily armored with a very solid frill
  32. Tyrannosaurus rex
    large carnivorous bipedal dinosaur having enormous teeth with knifelike serrations; may have been a scavenger rather than an active predator; later Cretaceous period in North America
  33. velociraptor
    small active carnivore that probably fed on protoceratops
Created on Tue Jan 31 19:52:32 EST 2017 (updated Thu Apr 06 11:06:18 EDT 2017)

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