PREHISTORIC TEXAS COMES BACK TO LIFE!

WHAT’S A CREATURE QUEST? Creature Quests were created to lead you on a meaningful quest through the Houston Zoo. As you visit these exhibits, be sure to consider the questions listed. Get ready for a fun-filled, educational Houston Zoo experience.

DINOSAURS IN TEXAS There are 21 different dinosaurs that have been found in Texas! There is even a state dinosaur, the Paluxysaurus, whose tracks are still visible at Dinosaur Valley State Park. Paleontologists, people who study dinosaurs, are still searching Texas for more evidence of these prehistoric reptiles!

FOSSILS We know about the dinosaurs in Texas because we have found their fossils. Fossils are formed when an animal dies and is rapidly covered in silt or mud, usually at the bottom of a lake or delta. There are two types of fossils: impressions which have been left in the rock and bones that have been turned into rock. We have both kinds of fossils in Texas.

BEACHFRONT PROPERTY The marshes and deltas near the ocean are a great place for fossils to form. The oceanfront in Texas has changed over the years, and the farther you get from today’s beach, the older the fossils get! There are fossils of ice age mammals found in Texas, along with true dinosaurs and other reptiles that lived when they did. SAU LOTS OF DIFFERENT DINOSAURS INO RS! Just like animals that are alive today, there are many different CREATURE D AT THE HOUSTON ZOO types of dinosaurs. They lived in different habitats and ate PRESENTED BY different kinds of food. We can tell what they ate and the type of lives they lived by looking at their adaptations, just QUESTS like we can with animals that are alive today! For example, dinosaurs who were carnivores and ate meat had sharp AT THE HOUSTON ZOO teeth, while dinosaurs who were herbivores had flat teeth for grinding plants. TEKS ALIGNMENT: 1st–2nd: 9C, 3rd: 9B, 4th: 9A&B, 5th: 9B, 1st–4th: 10A COELOPHYSIS WHERE TO GO: (SEEL-oh-FIE-sis) As you trek through the exhibit, visit these 5 animals to discover more about Texas dinosaurs. Make These carnivores are some of the oldest dinosaurs found in sure to start with #1 and follow the map. 1 Texas. Their fossils were found in the Panhandle region.

• What adaptations do you see that tell paleontologists that this was a carnivore? • How do you think Coelophysis’s long tail helped it survive?

PROTOHADROS (pro-to-HAD-ross) Paleontologists think this dinosaur ate plants. It had the ability ENTRANCE to stand on either all four feet or just its back feet. 2 TICKETS • Why would it be helpful for an herbivore to be able to stand on its back legs? EDMONTONIA • Protohadros fossils were found in the process of building the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. What other ways can you think of that fossils might be discovered accidentally? 3

EDMONTOSAURUS DEINONYCHUS DEINONYCHUS 2 STEGOCERAS (die-NON-i-kus) 4 This predatory dinosaur was probably very fast, and 5 PROTOHADROS may have hunted in packs. Its fossils have been found in ORNITHOMIMUS 1 3 central Texas. TYRANNOSAURUS REX

• What are the benefits of hunting in a group? COELOPHYSIS • What adaptations do you see that helped Deinonychus catch its prey? ACROCANTHOSAURUS BRACHIOSAURUS

ORNITHOMIMUS DILOPHOSAURUS (OR-ni-thoh-MEE-mus) & BABY Ornithomimus fossils have been found in West Texas. They were omnivores, probably eating both plants and insects. 4 GIFT SHOP • “Ornithomimus” means “Bird Mimic.” What do you see that this dinosaur has in common with birds? • Why do you think paleontologists think this was an omnivore? EXIT TYRANNOSAURUS REX (tie-RAN-oh-SORE-us recks) The T-Rex that is at the Houston Zoo is a life-sized replica! BEYOND THE HOUSTON ZOO This famous dinosaur is known from fossils in the Big Bend area of Texas. 5 Research another dinosaur or prehistoric reptile that once lived in Texas. Make a list of adaptations that • We know that Tyrannosaurus was a carnivore. What adaptations does it have for eating meat? the reptile had to survive in its habitat. Find examples of animals that are currently alive in Texas that have • Many of the carnivorous dinosaurs were bipedal. Do you think there was an similar adaptations. Did you find many similarities? Why do you think this is? advantage for hunters to run on two feet instead of four?