The secret life of dinos: step back in time with the largest beasts ever to walk the Earth - Earth/Life Science: Cretaceous Period Dinosaurs Fossils.Tyrannosaurus rex fossil discovery - Statistical Data Included

Science World, Oct 15, 2001 by Kim Masibay

Cenozoic Era: Mammals diversified. Birds flourished. Continents took on their present forms. Modern humans appeared near the end of the Quaternary Period.

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Did You Know?

* When the last ice age thawed 10,000 years ago, melting glacier water cut deep gullies into sedimentary rock, revealing fossilized bones.

* Sue was the twelfth T. rex found. Since 1990, at least 15 more have been unearthed.

* Dinosaurs grew faster than modern reptiles. New studies estimate the giant Apatosaurus gained more than 30 pounds a day during adolescence.

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Directions: Read the article on dinosaurs, then write a brief paragraph using the provided vocabulary words.

1. Imagine you're the T. rex Sue. Describe a day in your life. (Cretaceous period, forelimbs, carcass)

2. You're a paleontologist and have just found what could be a T. rex fossil. Write field notes describing what you see. (mudstone, articulated vertebrae, matrix)

Cross-Curricular Connection

History: Barnum Brown discovered the grist Tyrannosaurus rex fossil in 1902. Research the details of Brown's amazing find.

National Science Education Standards

Grades 5-8: Earth's history * structure of the Earth's system * diversity and adaptations of organisms

Grades 9-12: the origin and evolution of the Earth system * biological evolution

Resources

Hunt for the Past: My Life as an Explorer by Sue Hendrickson, Scholastic, 2001

The Complete T. Rex by John R. Homer and Don Lessem, Simon & Schuster, 1993

See Sue at www.fmnh.org/sue