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Tyrannosaurus Rex Classroom ISBN 1-56767-216-7 Developed in Southern California by Educational Insights. © Educational Insights, Inc., Gardena, CA (U.S.A.). All rights reserved. Learning Resources Ltd., Oldmedow Road, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, PE30 4JX, UK. Please retain this information. Made in China. www.educationalinsights.com Table of Contents What Is in Dueling Dino Dig? . .2 Welcome to Tyrannosaurus’s World . .4 Mealtime in the Mesozoic . .5 Tyrannosaurus Findings . .10 A Dinosaur Dig . .12 You’ll DIG These Fossils! . .14 Get Ready to Dig . .16 Dino Drawing . .18 Draw Your Own . .18 Tyrannosaurus Fact Sheet . .20 Picture Gallery . .21 Making Your Tyrannosaurus Model . .22 Displaying Tyrannosaurus . .24 © Copyright 1997 Educational Insights Inc., Carson, CA (USA), St Albans, Herts. (UK). All rights reserved. Please retain this information. Conforms to ASTM F-963-96a, EN-71. Printed in China. EI-5176 The Age of Dinosaurs . .26 Where Did They Go? . .29 1 Paleontologist’s tools: What Is in Dueling Just like a paleontologist, you will get to dig the “fossils” from the “earth.” The digging tool Dino Dig? will help you break apart the clay, separate the fossils from Dueling Dino Dig Guide Book—Tyrannosaurus kit: the clay, and clean bits of clay from the fossils. The brush This will let you clean the dust from the fossils as you excavate. book contains an exciting story featuring Tyrannosaurus, set Fossils: in the Mesozoic era. You will also find background The fossils that you excavate will be smaller than information and history, plus instructions on how to excavate real ones, but when you put them together you’ll have a your fossils, assemble them, and pose your model with other true-to-scale skeleton of Tyrannosaurus. Dueling Dinos! Wax: Clay block: This wax will hold your fossil parts together. It will This block of clay represents a piece of earth— not harden and you can change poses or positions whenever millions of years old. Buried inside the clay, you will find you wish! The flexibility of this wax allows your dinosaur to fossil replicas of Tyrannosaurus bones. have a little bit of movement, especially in the jaw and legs. Then you can pose them alone or with models from other Guide Book Dueling Dino Dig kits. (See back cover of this guide book.) Stand: When your Tyrannosaurus model is complete, pose it on this stand. Then attach the label (included). Wax Stand Paleontologist’s tools: Fossil Clay block 2 3 Welcome to Mealtime in the Mesozoic Tyrannosaurus’s World On a warm day in a lush swamp forest, sixty-five million years ago, a Tyrannosaurus wakes from sleep. It’s near the end of the Mesozoic era*—the age of dinosaurs. The air is Are you ready to find and study fossils, just like a still. A pteranodon spreads its huge wings and flies from a paleontologist? treetop to the water. She swoops down and catches a fish Are you ready to dig some fossils of your own? with her long, pointy beak. Are you ready to build a model of a dinosaur and pose Tyrannosaurus begins to think about eating. He watches it in action? the pteranodon glide across the sky. In the distance, a Then you are ready for Dueling Dino Dig! Troodon runs from the water. Something is dangling from Troodon’s mouth—it’s a snake! Troodon’s eyes face partly Let’s go back in time more than 65 million years to the forward, making it easy for her to find snakes, lizards, and world of dinosaurs—the time of Tyrannosaurus... small mammals to eat. Tyrannosaurus watches carefully. Suddenly, a thundering sound fills the swampland. It is not from the silent Tyrannosaurus, who hears it too. This is the sound of dinosaurs in battle! 4 5 *To find out more about the Mesozoic era and the age of dinosaurs, see page 26. The Battle Tyrannosaurus lifts his huge head. He uses his tiny arms At the water’s edge, he sees the source of the battle cries— for balance as he raises his 7-ton body. When he stands, two Triceratops, heads lowered, long horns locked in he is more than 46 feet (14 meters) tall! Tyrannosaurus fierce conflict. smells the moist air. He listens. The thundering warfare Tyrannosaurus, the “tyrant-lizard,” watches and waits. continues. Tyrannosaurus can sense the direction of the For a few seconds, the two Triceratops are at a standoff— sounds. He turns toward the swamp. horns locked—unable to move. Suddenly, they break Slowly, carefully, Tyrannosaurus moves his giant body. loose. One Triceratops thrusts its bony horns into the neck The earth rumbles with each step. A Parksosaurus, of the other, but even its sharp point can’t tear the other’s heading for the water, feels the rumble and bolts in the tough neck frill. The second Triceratops lowers his head— opposite direction! almost to the ground. Then, with a quick move, he raises It only takes a few long steps for the huge Tyrannosaurus his top horn into the lower shoulder of the other, forcing to reach the battle sounds. He peers through the brush at the mighty dinosaur to the ground, defeated. The battle is the water hole, surrounded by flowering plants. over. The victor steps on his victim with a heavy foot, then stalks away. 6 7 Tyrannosaurus seizes the moment. With a bolt of speed, he All of a sudden the sky darkens. Dark clouds burst into bursts through the brush and attacks the wounded heavy rainfall. The water hits the earth fast and hard. The Triceratops. He uses his own body weight to pin down the water hole fills and overflows. Flood waters rush across the struggling animal. Then he sinks his teeth into its flesh. lands. Plants and animals are carried away by the sweeping Tyrannosaurus’s teeth are like knives: 7 inches (18 cm) long flow. Tyrannosaurus, trying to keep his feet planted in the and curved, with a rough, jagged edge to rip apart his prey. muddy swampland, is lifted by the rushing water. He is The Triceratops tries to defend himself but he is trapped in swept away by the newly formed river of water. He the grip of Tyrannosaurus’s tiny arms as the tyrant lizard disappears, never to be seen again... tears off another chunk of flesh. Tyrannosaurus twists and ...at least, not for 65 million years! turns his powerful neck as he rips away each morsel. Finally, Tyrannosaurus is satisfied. He moves on through the swamp grasses, leaving the Triceratops body behind. 8 9 Tyrannosaurus Findings Montana, 1902 Sixty-five million years after all dinosaurs had disappeared, paleontologists gathered at a dig site in Montana, United States of America, to study plant and animal fossils. The year was 1902. Excitement filled the air as the scientists dug deeper into the earth’s mysterious secrets. They found the bones of one of the largest, most powerful animals that ever lived (that we know of!)—Tyrannosaurus, the tyrant lizard. This is a drawing of Tyrannosaurus’s front arm from the humerus, or shoulder The fossilized bones were in excellent condition. This is why bone, to the finger claws. scientists believed he or she may have died in a flash flood. Scavenger or Hunter? When the flood was over, Tyrannosaurus was left buried in tiny particles of earth, sand, and mud. Over the years, this Was the great meat-eating Tyrannosaurus a terrifying sediment hardened into rock. The rock lay unnoticed for hunter or a cunning scavenger? Scientists disagree about the millions of years, until this day. evidence. Some believe Tyrannosaurus was the most vicious meat-eating creature of the Cretaceous period—a powerful From this and other digs that followed, paleontologists have threat to any living animal who may have been in the way. found many Tyrannosaurus fossils, including a 7-inch (18 cm) Its long, sharp teeth could have gripped the flesh of any prey tooth. The curved tooth has a serrated, or saw-like edge. it wanted. Other scientists say Tyrannosaurus’s enormous They learned that Tyrannosaurus had three toes on its feet size and weight would have prevented it from moving fast and two claws on its two tiny hands. They determined that enough to catch any live prey. They believe the great Tyrannosaurus probably walked with its huge, heavy tail dinosaur relied on the weak, sick, or dead for its meals. raised to balance the weight of its large head, not lowered to the ground as was earlier believed. Like some other animal One thing scientists do agree on about the Tyrannosaurus— species, the female Tyrannosaurus may have been larger it was one of the last species of dinosaur to disappear from than the male. By the 1990s, scientists had found two almost the face of the earth. complete skeletons of this remarkable dinosaur. 10 11 5 A Dinosaur Dig The fossil is uncovered with a brush. It is protected with wrappings of plaster-soaked cloth or sprayed with a resin to Dinosaur digs require very hard work. It can take months, make it stronger. even years, and a lot of work to find a fossil and remove it 6 When the plaster hardens, it is safe to remove the fossil from the earth. It’s worth it, though, for the excitement of from the ground. Sometimes a whole rock is excavated to discovery and new scientific knowledge! protect a fragile fossil. Let’s take a look at what happens at many fossil digs: 7 1 After it is removed from the ground, each fossil is care- Fossil hunters search rock layers of the Mesozoic era fully placed in a padded crate.
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