hoofed, 175
incisors of, 168
nipples and, 115
small, 3, 8, 128, 164, 169
mammoths, 44
marginocephalians, 18–19
marine ecosystems, 335
marine reptiles, 91, 204–5, 208, 217
meat eaters, 180
meat-eating dinosaurs, 214
Megapnosaurus, 214
Megapodius molistructor, 302, 347
Mesozoic Era (65–70 mya)
arthropods, 259
birds, 57, 299–300, 306, 361
bones of vertebrates/invertebrates, 168
bowers, 325
burrows, 320
cannibalism, 234
dinosaur behavior, 353
dinosaur eggs and, 95, 332
dinosaur nests, 317
dinosaurs, 15, 37, 45, 87, 95, 149, 173, 234, 266, 306, 310, 333, 346
ecosystems, 45, 85, 193, 266, 350, 359
flowering plants, 232, 353, 356
fossil burrows, 128
global warming, 351–52
grasses, 264
mammals, 140, 236, 362
marine reptiles, 204
monocotyledons and, 191
non-avian dinosaurs, 361, 370
“nuclear winter,” 54
plants, 293
regurgitalites, 242
river deposits, 340
rocks, 17, 99, 162, 195–96, 212, 221, 269, 271, 299, 348
sauropods, 258
snow, 344
theropods, 36, 45, 214, 291, 332, 345
titanosaur nests, 316
trace fossils, 271, 359
meteorite crater (near Yucatan peninsula, Mexico), 54, 131
“meteorite winter,” end-Cretaceous, 132
Mexico, 43, 54, 270
Microraptor, 52, 88, 235, 310
Middle Cretaceous Period (70 mya), 360. See also Cretaceous Period
Middle Jurassic Period (170 mya), 23, 44, 47, 51, 212, 223
Middle Triassic Period (235 mya), 25–26, 68
mixing stones, 352
monocotyledons, 191. See also flowering plants
Mononykus (feathered theropod dinosaurs), 2, 4
Montana, USA, 12, 68, 95–96, 100–101, 107, 109, 122, 124, 126, 133–35, 137–41, 147–48, 152, 154–55, 157, 184, 188, 236, 250, 345, 347
Mullerornis (elephant bird), 301
Museum of the Rockies (Montana), 188
Muttaburrasaurus langdoni, 57, 73
N
natural selection, 6, 215, 304, 312, 354
neoichnology, 140
nest structures, 12, 109–10, 118–19, 345
New Mexico, 43, 55, 218, 234
New Zealand, 210, 302, 304–6, 309, 318, 345
nodosaurs, 18–19, 251, 351
non-avian dinosaurs, 54, 98. See also dinosaur(s)
avian dinosaurs and, 305
brain CT scans, 310
Cenozoic Era, 264
courtship traces of, 323
Cretaceous Period, 264, 293
earliest birds evolved from, 362
Early Cretaceous Period, 236
end-Cretaceous Period, 98, 131–32, 260, 264, 293, 304
extinction of, 299
Mesozoic Period, 361
petroleum deposits from, 334
sunbathing and, 328
theropods, 55
non-flowering seed plants (gymnosperms), 353, 355–56. See also flowering plants
North Pole, 14, 53
North Slope of Alaska, 18, 274, 314
Nqwebasaurus, 214
nuclear winter, 54
O
ocean ecosystems, 352
Olympic racewalkers, 31
ornithomimids (“ostrich mimics”), 13, 216–17, 251, 305
ornithopods, 2
bipedal, 88
burrowing, 8, 130
burrows/burrowing, 4, 8, 130, 367, 369
cladogram for dinosaurs and, 19
dinosaur toothmarks, 179
ecological role of, 305
eggs or egg clutches of, 92
gymnosperms and, 353
herbivorous dinosaurs, 351
herding of, 47
hypsilophodonts, 155
large, 8
nesting grounds, 345
polar environment adaptation, 150–51
quadrupedal, 88
sauropods and, 351
size of, 57
social lives of, 47
theropods and, 2, 11, 18–19, 29, 35–36, 57, 59, 63–64, 72, 79, 165, 246, 306
tracks and nests of, 306
tracks of, 20–21, 47, 70–72, 88
urolites and coprolites, 246
Oryctodromeus cubicularis (burrowing dinosaur), 11–12, 98, 145, 148, 152, 154–55, 158–59, 269, 316, 319
ostriches (Struthio camelus), 36, 209
ostrich-like theropods (Struthiomimus), 4, 13
Oviraptor, 93–94, 96–97, 106, 325
P
Pachycephalosaurus (“bone-headed dinosaurs”), 18, 21, 172–75, 178, 251
Paleogene Period (65 mya), 54
paleontology, 9, 56, 61, 64, 67–68, 79–80, 123, 129, 134, 160, 243, 254, 264, 311, 352, 369
Panoplosaurus, 219
Papagomys armandvillei (Flores giant rat), 303
plant communities, 8
in the Amazon River Basin, 293, 356
on the Galapagos Islands, 363
in northern Queensland, 293
during the Pleistocene, 356
riparian, 358
river–floodplain, 357
plant eaters, 214–15, 369
plesiosaurs, 204–5, 211–12, 239
Poekilopleuron, 212, 215
Poland, 14, 26, 38, 68
polar ecosystems, 274
polar environments, 14, 131, 151, 155, 157, 274, 299
post-Cretaceous monkey, 132
Pratt Museum of Natural History (Amherst College), 40
predatory theropods, 3, 12, 15, 304–5, 338, 357, 359
prosauropods, 18–20, 22, 25, 27, 96, 118, 218–9, 223–24, 333, 343–44
proto-dinosaurs, 26
Psittacosaurus, 96, 128, 167, 219, 236
Pterodaustro guinazui, 206
pterosaurs, 2–3, 26, 206, 300
Pygoscelis adeliae (AdeÅLlie penguin), 228
Pygoscelis antarctica (chinstrap penguin), 228
Q
quadrupedal. See also bipedal; three-toed; two-legged
animals, 28
ankylosaurids, 20, 70, 88
ceratopsians, 20, 35, 70, 88
diagonal walking pattern, 89
dinosaurs, 19, 27, 35, 38, 88
facultatively, 27
nodosaurids, 20
ornithopods, 88
prosauropods, 20
sauropods, 20, 35, 70, 86, 88
stegosaurs, 20, 70
trackways, 32
Queensland, Australia, 11, 35, 44, 56, 60–62, 66–67, 73, 80, 82, 205, 238–39, 270, 289, 293. See also Australia
Queensland Museum (Australia), 61–62
R
regurgitalites (fossil puke), 233, 235, 240, 242, 260, 266, 268
riparian ecosystems, 358
S
salamanders, 5, 230
sanderlings (Calidris alba), 309
sauropod breeding, 13
sauropod dinosaurs, 7–8, 337
Saurornitholestes, 180
savannah ecosystems, 253
sea-turtle nest, 326
sediment-rimmed nests, 12
sexual dimorphism, 88
Shenzhousaurus, 214, 216
Sinocalliopteryx, 214–15, 235–36
Sinosauropteryx, 214–15, 235
Sinraptor, 189
snails, 5–7, 52, 200, 205, 251, 256–58, 266, 291, 320, 322, 325, 364–65
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, 277
South Pole, 14, 53
southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), 289
southwestern Ut
ah, 11, 39, 44, 315
Spain, 11, 23, 44, 55, 71, 77, 96, 114, 204, 241, 345
Spinosaurus, 37, 88, 368
Stegoceras, 172, 174
stegosaurs, 13, 18–20, 23, 38, 70, 179, 213, 251, 348, 351–52, 369
Stephanoaetus coronatus (African crowned eagles), 303
“stomach stones” (gastroliths), 4, 13
stork (Leptoptilos robustus), 303
Struthio camelus (ostriches), 36, 209
Struthiomimus (ostrich-like theropods), 4, 13
swim tracks, 11, 44, 79, 238, 315
Sylviornis neocaledoniae, 302, 347
synergism, 8
Syntarsus, 214
T
T. rex. See Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex)
terrestrial ecosystems, 335, 339, 353–54
Therizinosaurs, 20–21, 96, 251
theropods. See also Allosaurus; Oviraptor; pachycephalosaurs; Struthiomimus
about, 2, 4, 38
aggressive behaviors of, 178
aquatic food source, 45
asphyxiation and fossilization of, 51
bipedal, 29, 35
birds evolved from, 15
brooding behavior, 106
carnivorous, 162–63, 165, 180, 214
Citipati, 38, 93, 96–97, 106
cladogram for dinosaurs and, 19
claw marks, 12
Cretaceous, 73
Daspletosaurus, 180, 189, 236–38, 262
deinonychosaurs, 16
Dromaeosaurids, 21, 48
Dromaeosaurus, 3–4, 8, 16
in Early Cretaceous rocks, 11
eggs laid in the nests, 3, 92
evolution of, 317
face-biting by, 189
feathered, 40, 162
feathers, 106
flightless birds are modern, 36
fossils of, 51, 106
gastroliths and, 214
Guanlong wucaii, 51
heterodonty in, 180–81
Late Cretaceous, 180
Limusaurus, 51
mating traces, 88
meat eaters, 180
Microraptor, 52, 88, 235, 310
Mononykus-like, 2
nest structure, 96
non-avian, 55
ornithopods and, 2, 11, 18–19, 29, 35–36, 57, 59, 63–64, 72, 79, 165, 246, 306
pack hunting by, 15–16, 45
“palms” turned inward, 39
predation and scavenging to feed, 186
predatory, 3, 12, 15, 304–5, 338, 357, 359
Saurornitholestes, 180
Spinosaurus, 88
“stomach stones,” 13
teeth, 180
Therizinosaurs, 20–21
three-toed track, 88
tracks, 20, 44, 47, 49–50
Triceratops defense against, 172
Troodon, 3, 12, 106
two-legged, 57, 70
tyrannosaur-sized, 73
Tyrannosaurus, 180
urolites and coprolites, 246
vegetation eating, 179
Velociraptor, 16, 180
weighed 8 tons, 86
Thescelosaurus, 2–4, 7
three-toed. See also bipedal
bird tracks, 22
Camarasaurus tracks, 50
cassowary tracks, 291–93
and clawed footprints, 7
dinosaur tracks, 22, 64–65, 67, 69–70, 72–74, 79, 284
emu or brush-turkey tracks, 61
feet, 309
ornithopod tracks, 22, 75, 79
theropod tracks, 42, 53, 79, 88, 336
tracks of pranksters, 309
thyreophorans, 18–19
titanosaurs, 12, 101, 109–11, 115–18, 128, 264–65
toothmarks on bones, 13
totipalmate feet, 307–9, 364
track tectonics, 33
trackways. See also Alexander’s formula
about, 7, 16, 27–29
of animals moving at high speeds, 241
ankylosaur, 47
bipedal dinosaur, 32, 35, 38, 70
bird, 309, 312, 324
cassowary, 292
Ceratopsian, 368
dinosaur, 30, 34, 49, 52, 244, 277
dromaeosaur, 48
elephant, 339
herding-sauropod, 244
of insects, 241
narrow gauge, 29, 336
ornithopod, 47, 310
pachycephalosaur, 173–74, 368
pattern, 28
quadrupedal dinosaur, 32, 35
by running dinosaurs, 35
running-dinosaur, 35
sauropod, 31, 43, 46–47, 244, 368
“stalking theropod,” 48
theropod, 15, 47, 244, 368
toad, 230
Triassic dinosauromorph tracks, 26
Triassic Period. See Early Triassic Period; Late Triassic Period; Middle Triassic Period
Triceratops (three-horned), 1–6, 10, 13–14, 31, 54, 66, 131, 141, 162, 169–72, 182–85, 261, 348
Troodon, 3, 8, 12, 93–94, 96, 101–11, 117–18, 122, 126, 128, 130, 188, 235, 256, 316, 345, 347, 352
trophic cascade, 54, 131
trot (trotting), 5, 10, 24, 28–33, 35
Two Medicine Formation of Montana, 101, 252, 256, 258
two-legged. See also bipedal; four-legged
dinosaurs, 11, 27, 86, 178
gait, 27
theropods and ornithopods, 57
tyrannosaurid, 236, 250, 260, 262–63
Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex), 5–7, 14, 36–37, 41, 54–55, 66, 73–74, 131, 148, 170–72, 177, 180, 182–89, 213, 215, 234, 250, 257, 260–62, 295, 311, 334, 348, 368
U
undertracks, 33, 53, 71, 280
United Kingdom, 43, 365
urolites (fossilized structures formed by urination), 226, 242–43, 245–46, 368
Utah, 38–40, 43–44, 47–48, 52, 55, 79, 218, 303, 315, 340, 342–43
Utahraptor, 303
V
Velociraptor, 16, 48, 66, 87, 180
Victoria, Australia, 12, 68, 149, 157, 159, 267–69, 276–77, 299, 314. See also Australia
viviparity (live birth), 91
W
wasps, 8, 108–9, 274, 354, 360
webbed feet, 308, 364
webbing, 42, 307–8
wide gauge trackways, 29
wood-boring insects, 254–55, 322
Wyoming Dinosaur Center, 50
Y
Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming), 357–58
Z
Zimbabwe, 43, 47
zygodactyl, 307–9
Image Gallery
FIGURE 1. An imagined Cretaceous landscape devoid of dinosaurs, but filled with their traces, some of which later became trace fossils.
FIGURE 2. Known trackway patterns of some dinosaurs, including (top, left to right) theropods, ornithopods, sauropods, ankylosaurs, and ceratopsians; examples of trackway patterns (bottom, left to right) made by a Middle Jurassic theropod (Wyoming), an Early Cretaceous sauropod (Texas), and Late Cretaceous ornithopods (Colorado). The ornithopod tracks show both bipedal and quadrupedal movement by their makers.
FIGURE 3. Swimming dinosaur tracks from the Early Jurassic of Utah. These were probably made by theropods that swam from left to right against the current flow, with their claws digging into the bottom. The tracks were later filled in with sand, which made natural casts of the tracks. Tracks on display at the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm, St. George, Utah. Scale (lower right) in centimeters.
FIGURE 4. Parallel and evenly spaced Late Jurassic sauropod trackways, showing probable herding, at the Purgatoire River tracksite near La Junta, Colorado. (Notice how the people seeing these tracks can’t help but walk along them, stand and stare at them, or simply sit in them.)
FIGURE 5. Panorama of the Lark Quarry tracksite in Queensland, Australia. Nearly every dent on the rock surface is a dinosaur track, a small sample of the nearly 3,000 Late Cretaceous footprints preserved there.
FIGURE 6. Close-ups of the three-toed dinosaur tracks at Lark Quarry, with the largest one (top) from a large theropod or ornithopod, and the smaller ones also either from theropods or ornithopods. Note how most of the small ones are pointing the opposite direction of the big one. Why?
FIGURE 7. How a running theropod (top) and swimming theropod (bottom) of the same size could have made tracks looking like those in Lark Quarry.
FIGURE 8. Hypothetical dinosaur trackway patterns associated with sex, such as from bipedal theropods (left) and quadrupedal sauropods (right).
FIGURE 9. Late Cretaceous insect cocoons in rock (center, lower right) that was part of a Troodon nest (Montana). The cocoons likely belonged to burrowing wasps that lived in the soils on and around the dinosaur nests.
FIGURE 10. Late Cretaceous Troodon nest structure (Montana), artistically reconstructed and with egg clutch in center (left), and Late Cretaceous titanosaur nest structure from Argentina with only part of its original egg clutch (right). Both nests at the same scale, scale bar = 50 cm (20 in).
FIGURE 11. Right rear-foot anatomy of a sauropod suspended above a track, showing how its anatomy corresponds with the track below it (left); digging motion needed by rear foot to make nest (right). Foot and track part of a display at Dinosaur Valley State Park (Texas), and diagram informed by Vila et al. (2010) and Fowler and Lee (2011). Scale bar (left) = 10 cm (4 in).
FIGURE12. Field photograph documenting the discovery of the first known dinosaur burrow and the ornithopod dinosaur that made it, Oryctodromeus cubicularis. The sandstone spiraling down from the reddish mudstone outlines the burrow, and the plaster jacket surrounding the dinosaur bones also shows the approximate location of the burrow chamber. (Photograph by David Varricchio.) Brush (upper left) = 2.5 cm (1 in) wide.
FIGURE 13. Field perspectives of excavated dinosaur burrow attributed to Oryctodromeus, preserved as a sandstone cast of the original burrow: overhead view (top) and side view (bottom). The burrow chamber was cut off from the main “tunnel” when the plaster-jacketed bones were recovered from the site. Notice also the small burrows coming off the right-hand corner and left-hand corners of the main burrow, interpreted as coming from commensal animals. Scale = 15 cm (6 in).
FIGURE 14. Comparison between Late Cretaceous dinosaur burrow from Montana (left) and purported Early Cretaceous dinosaur burrow from Victoria, Australia (right). Each had a coarser sediment fill (pebbles), although only the Montana one contained bones and had commensal burrows. Both burrows at the same scale, scale bar = 50 cm (20 in).
Dinosaurs Without Bones Page 54
