Educator’s Guide DINOSAURS AMONG US INSIDE • Map of the Exhibition • Essential Questions • Teaching in the Exhibition • Come Prepared Checklist • Correlation to Standards • Glossary ONLINE • Science & Literacy Activities • Additional Resources amnh.org/dinosaurs-among-us/educators MAP of the Exhibition Dinosaurs Among Us highlights the evolutionary connections between living dinosaurs—birds— and their extinct relatives. > exit This exhibition uses “extinct dinosaur” or “non-bird dinosaur” for extinct members of Dinosauria, and “bird” to mean all the descendants of the last common ancestor of living birds. 1. Introduction 6d 1a. Transformation theater 7a 2. Nests, Eggs & Babies 2a. Citipati 2b. Eggs 3. Brains, Lungs & Hearts 6c 4b 4c 3a. Brains 6b 3b. Lungs and hearts 6a 4a 4. Bones, Beaks & Claws 4a. Khaan mckennai 4b. Hollow bones, wishbones, and 5a 3b growth rings JURA A VEN 5b T 4c. Feet and claws OR ANCHIORN IS 3a 5. Feathers 5c 5a. Feather array 5b. Psittacosaurus, Archaeopteryx, 2a Tianyulong, and Yutyrannus 5c. Feathered fossils and casts 6. Flight Climb 2b on a nest! 6a. Microraptor, Confuciusornis, and Xiaotingia 6b. Wings 6c. Extinct birds KEY 6d. “Will It Fly?” interactive case/model 7. The New Age of Dinosaurs 1a interactive 7a. Cladogram and bird array hands-on video > enter stamp station Xiaotingia ESSENTIAL Questions What are dinosaurs? • Nests and eggs: Nest-building, egg-laying, and brooding are regarded as quintessential bird traits, Dinosaurs are a group of animals that includes both but evidence of birds, from hummingbirds to ostriches, and the non-bird these behaviors dinosaurs like T. rex and Stegosaurus. A feature that dis- has been observed tinguishes most dinosaurs from all other animals is a hole across groups of in the hip bone, which helps them to stand upright—unlike non-bird dinosaurs. crocodiles, which are the closest living relatives of birds. Well-preserved Non-bird dinosaurs fossils, like this one of the non-bird Crocodiles Pterosaurs Horned Armored Sauropods Other theropods Birds & relatives dinosaurs dinosaurs dinosaur Citipati, reveal that it demonstrated a Paravians behavior—parental This rare fossil, known as Big Mama, Ornithischians preserves a moment in time. The Citipati Maniraptors care—common to died spreading its forearms to protect Theropods nearly all living its eggs. Birds today assume the same birds. position when brooding their eggs. Saurischians • Internal organs: Soft tissue, such as brains, is almost extinct never preserved in the fossil record—but imprints Dinosaurs living sometimes are. Non-bird dinosaurs that were closely Ornithodirans related to birds had particularly large brains that filled Archosaurs the entire braincase and left imprints on the inside of The group called Dinosauria includes the extinct dinosaurs and all their their skulls. Scientists are now using digital scans of living descendants. All its members, including living birds, descended fossil skulls to determine the size and shape of dinosaur from the very first dinosaur—their common ancestor. That’s why birds are a kind of dinosaur (just as humans are a kind of primate). brains, which contain import- ant clues to how the animal The earliest known dinosaur occurred over 228 million functioned in the world. When years ago (mya). Dinosaurs evolved into a very diverse scientists compare these findings group of animals with a vast array of physical features. to the brains of living birds, they There were small, feathered carnivorous dinosaurs such find surprising similarities as Xiaotingia, and massive herbivorous dinosaurs like and intriguing differences. Scientists use computed tomography (CT) scans of titanosaurs. The first bird, a kind oftheropod dinosaur, dinosaur skulls to create appeared during the Jurassic Period (about 150 mya). The more comparisons we make detailed, 3D reconstructions This is the common ancestor of all birds. With perhaps between birds and their closest of their interiors. This one non-bird dinosaur relatives, the shows the space inside the as many as 18,000 species alive today, birds—the only skull of Archaeopteryx, an living dinosaurs—now occupy every continent and more connections we find. early bird. almost every ecological niche. How do scientists piece together the What is the evidence that birds are story of dinosaur evolution? dinosaurs? To understand the history of life on Earth, scientists look at evidence from both living and extinct species. Birds have features and behaviors that are seen in non-bird To learn about ancient life, scientists collect and study dinosaur fossils: fossils. They also study living birds and their reptilian • Feathers: Birds are the only living animals with feathers, relatives—their anatomy, genetics, and behavior—for which were once thought to have evolved specifically insight into how they are related to each other. This for flight. The discovery of more and more feathered process—comparative biology—is a powerful approach to non-flying dinosaurs disproved that theory. Feathers understanding evolutionary history. Scientists organize serve many functions besides flight, including and interpret all of this evidence in order to figure out the locomotion, insulation, protection, and display. place of dinosaurs, including birds, on the tree of life. TEACHING in the Exhibition TRACHEA 1. Introduction 3b. Lungs and hearts: FORWARD Birds and some of AIR SAC 1a. Transformation theater: This exhibition examines their reptilian relatives LUNG how one group of dinosaurs evolved into the array of REAR share similar internal traits: LUNG AIR SAC living creatures we call birds. As students walk through super-efficient lungs and this intro section, they can look at an artistic representa- powerful four-chambered tion of dinosaur transformation over evolutionary time. hearts. This predicts that extinct non-bird dinosaurs When birds breathe, fresh air flows 2. Nests, Eggs & Babies had them, too. Have in one direction through the lung, students look at the moving from the rear air sac to the 2a. Citipati: Oviraptorid adults, with their eggs and models and diagrams front air sac, before going back out young, look strikingly like modern birds attending their the trachea. This allows birds to to see how these organs nests. Have students examine a cast of the amazing extract a high percentage of oxygen function. from the air. “Big Mama” fossil, which was found in Mongolia’s Gobi desert. Fossils like this tell us not only what these extinct creatures looked like, but also how they behaved. Like 4. Bones, Beaks & Claws shared physical traits, shared behaviors are clues to a 4a. Khaan mckennai: Known to paleontologists as common ancestry. “Sid and Nancy,” these two fossils have exquisitely Have students well-preserved skeletons. The two dinosaurs were buried compare the when a sand dune collapsed on them about 75 million model of Citipati years ago. Have students look at them closely for nest to those of characters that birds possess, such as the wishbone. other archosaurs, including These animals crocodiles and belong to the modern birds. group known as model of Citipati nest oviraptorids: fairly small, bird-like 2b. Eggs: Watertight eggs allowed life to move from dinosaurs with water onto land. The shells are substantial enough to toothless beaks and contain food and water, yet porous enough to let oxygen in wishbones, as well as skulls filled with and carbon dioxide out—allowing the developing embryo air pockets. Some to “breathe.” Have have even been students explore found sitting on eggs, the brooding different kinds of posture typical of terrestrial eggs. modern birds. Make sure they examine a cast of Birds “Baby Louie,” a very 4b. Hollow bones, wishbones, and growth rings: have wishbones and hollow bones, adaptations that help rare fossil of an with flight. It turns out that many non-bird dinosaurs oviraptorid share these traits, even though they never left the ground! embryo. These discoveries indicate that structures that assist in a cast of the “Baby Louie” fossil flight did not necessarily evolve for that purpose. Have students examine these bones and use a digital micro- 3. Brains, Lungs & Hearts scope to compare and contrast solid and hollow bones. 3a. Brains: Soft tissue doesn’t usually fossilize, so scien- 4c. Feet and claws: Similarities between non-bird tists study skulls in order to infer characteristics of the dinosaurs and birds are especially striking when it comes brains of extinct animals. Have students examine a dozen to legs, feet, and claws. Have students compare these endocasts to see what similarities and differences they features on models and fossil casts, and think about how reveal between the brains of non-bird dinosaurs and birds. they were used and what accounts for the similarities. 5. Feathers 6b. Wings: Wings capable of supporting true, powered flight evolved independently in three vertebrate groups: 5a. Feather array: Feathers come in dinosaurs (more specifically, birds), bats, and pterosaurs different colors, sizes, architectures, (now extinct). Have students examine the casts of wings and shapes, and serve many different to compare the very different ways that flight evolved in functions—flight is just one. Have these three groups. students compare and contrast the various modern and fossil feathers. 6c. Extinct birds: Feathers are light and airy but also are extremely Fully modern birds sturdy. So feather fossils are not uncommon. filled the skies by at least This specimen is from a modern bird that 70 million years ago. They lived around 50 million years ago. possessed all the key adaptations for powered 5b. Psittacosaurus, flight, including full-size Archaeopteryx, wings, shoulders that permit Tianyulong, and a full range of flapping Yutyrannus: Many movements, and fused dinosaur species had skeletal elements. Have feathers, some of which students examine fossils had unusual primitive and casts of birds and In advanced birds, the shoulder structures. Students can joint is able to rotate upward, discuss the traits that explore the models of allowing the wings to flap through make them “modern.” a nearly 180 degree arc.