MASON/LEONARD DINOSAUR STALKERS IN THE SWAMP Paul Mason Illustrated by Andre Leonard THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Dinosaur Stalkers in the Swamp Thanks to the creative team: Senior Editor: Alice Peebles Consultant: Neil Clark Design: Perfect Bound Ltd Original edition copyright 2018 by Hungry Tomato Ltd. Copyright © 2019 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. Hungry Tomato® is a trademark of Lerner Publishing Group All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review. Hungry Tomato® A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. 241 First Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA For reading levels and more information, look up this title at www.lernerbooks.com. Main body text set in Graviola Soft 12/14. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Mason, Paul, 1967– author. | Leonard, Andre, 1954– illustrator. Title: Dinosaur stalkers in the swamp / Paul Mason, Andre Leonard. Description: Minneapolis : Hungry Tomato, [2018] | Series: Dinosaurs rule | Audience: Ages 8-12. | Audience: Grades 4 to 6. Identifiers: LCCN 2018002093 (print) | LCCN 2018010802 (ebook) | ISBN 9781541523982 (eb pdf) | ISBN 9781541501027 (lb : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Dinosaurs—Juvenile literature. | Dinosaurs—Behavior—Juvenile literature. Classification: LCC QE861.5 (ebook) | LCC QE861.5 .M34298 2018 (print) | DDC 567.9—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018002093 Manufactured in the United States of America 1-43773-33631-4/19/2018 Dinosaur Stalkers in the Swamp by Paul Mason Illustrated by Andre Leonard MINNEAPOLIS Contents World of the Dinosaurs 6 Clash of the Giants! 8 Tyrannosaurus 10 Triceratops 11 Chase through the Swamp 13 Neovenator 14 Mantellisaurus 15 Sneaky Raider 16 Liliensternus 18 Plateosaurus 19 Attack from the Water 20 Deinosuchus 22 Appalachiosaurus 23 Battle in the Lake 24 Gorgosaurus 26 Euoplocephalus 27 Believe It or Not! 28 Dinosaur Descendants 30 Glossary 32 Index 32 World of the Dinosaurs Dinosaurs lived on Earth during the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods. At first they competed with other animals. During the Jurassic Period, though, dinosaurs began to dominate the world. Dinosaurs spread across almost every part of the world. Many lived in or near swamps—places where there was soft ground, water, and lots of plants. 6 Triassic world (250–201 million years ago) At this time, the main land on Earth was a “supercontinent” called Pangea. Pangea had a dry interior, with few rivers or lakes, so swamps were found mainly in coastal areas. Jurassic world (201–145 million years ago) During the Jurassic Period, Pangea broke up and formed new, more mountainous lands. Rivers began to flow from the newly formed mountains to the seas, so swamps became more common. Cretaceous world (145–66 million years ago) During this last age of the dinosaurs, Earth’s lands changed again and today’s continents began to form. Rivers, lakes, and swamps all became more common. For hungry predators, the swamps were an excellent hunting ground. 7 Clash of the Giants! Tyrannosaurus vs. Triceratops This is a battle between giants. Tyrannosaurus is hoping to bring down a massive meal—but its prey won’t be easy to kill. Triceratops has a neck frill for protection, and the long, pointed horns on its forehead could inflict a deadly wound. 8 9 Believe It or Not! Gorgosaurus may not have been a good parent Experts think young Gorgosaurus avoided anywhere they might meet an adult—including their parents—for fear of being eaten! The youngsters seem to have lived for years hunting smaller prey without growing large. Then they grew to adult size very quickly. Euoplocephalus was a dummy No dinosaurs were smart, and most were probably less intelligent than animals such as wildebeest. Experts sometimes use a unit called EQ to measure likely intelligence. Humans have an EQ of 5.28. Euoplocephalus’s has been calculated at 0.52. Tyrannosaurus had the WORST breath Tyrannosaurus probably always had pieces of rotting meat trapped in its teeth. These would have smelled terrible—though if you were close enough to smell them, that wouldn’t have been your biggest problem. Plateosaurus leads the way Plateosaurus was one of the first dinosaurs to be discovered (in 1834) and named (in 1837). It was also the first dinosaur ever discovered in Norway. The Norwegians must have been close to giving up on dinosaurs, until they found a Plateosaurus knucklebone in 2006. 28 Triceratops is worth a bundle! Twenty years ago, if you wanted to buy a fossil Triceratops skull, it would have cost about $2,500 (£1,560). In 2007, the price had gone up to $25,000 (£12,500). And by 2015, a Triceratops skull was being offered for sale at a price of $1.8 million (£1.2 million)! Appalachiosaurus was nearly called Albert Well, Albertosaurus. When it was first discovered in 1982, experts thought it was a different North American tyrannosaur: the even bigger Albertosaurus. In 2005, though, it was decided that this was a new dinosaur, which was named Appalachiosaurus after the Appalachian region where it once roamed. Survival mystery Like dinosaurs and pterosaurs, crocodiles such as Deinosuchus were descended from the archosaurs—reptiles from the early Triassic Period. No one is sure why the crocodiles survived when the other branches of their family were wiped out 66 million years ago. 29 Dinosaur Descendants The dinosaurs died out at the end of the Cretaceous Period . but did they die out completely? Or do creatures from the Age of Dinosaurs still stalk the Earth today? Birds Every time you see a bird fly by or peer at you from a tree, you’re almost certainly looking into the eyes of a dinosaur descendant. Most experts now agree that today’s birds probably have feathered dinosaurs somewhere in their family tree. Anchiornis is the first known feathered dinosaur. Over time Anchiornis (or a dinosaur like it) probably began to use its feathers to help it climb trees in search of food, or to escape predators. Next came gliding down from trees, like Microraptor. Finally, the dinosaur descendant began to fly. The most famous flyer from the time of the dinosaurs, Archaeopteryx, is sometimes called the first bird. But Archaeopteryx is very different from modern birds—other flyers that probably evolved from dinosaurs were much closer. Confuciusornis, for example, had the earliest beak we know about, plus stiff, rigid bones in its tail that supported feathers. 30 Sharks The first sharks began to appear long before the end of the Cretaceous Period. In fact, their ancestors were swimming around before the dinosaurs even appeared. Then, about 200 million years ago, modern sharks began to spread throughout the oceans. This means that today, if you meet a shark in an aquarium or out in the sea, you’re eye to eye with a creature descended from the time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. Crocodiles and alligators Today’s crocodiles and alligators look very much like giant crocodilians (members of the crocodile family) from the age of the dinosaurs, such as Sarcosuchus or Mourasuchus—so are they descended from them? Sadly for fans of the dinosaur era, the answer is no. The huge crocodilians died out alongside the dinosaurs they sometimes hunted. Today’s crocs and alligators are descended from a very different branch of the crocodilian family tree. 31 Index Glossary Anchiornis 30 Jurassic Period 7 apex predator: predator that no other Appalachiosaurus 20–21, animal naturally hunts 23, 29 Liliensternus 16–18 carnivorous: living on a diet of meat. Archaeopteryx 30 Mantellisaurus 13, 15 Carnivorous dinosaurs probably all hunted for food, though some may also have Cretaceous Period 7 Neovenator 13–14 eaten already-dead animals. crocodiles 29, 31 Crocodilia: group of reptiles that contains Plateosaurus 16–17, 19, 28 Deinosuchus 20–22, 29 crocodiles, alligators, caimans and other similar animals sharks 31 Euoplocephalus 24–25, family: label given to groups of dinosaurs 27–28 Triassic Period 6 that had similar physical characteristics but were not exactly alike Gorgosaurus 24–26, 28 Triceratops 8–9, 11, 29 Tyrannosaurus 8–10, 28 fossil: remains of a living thing from long intelligence 28 ago. Fossils can be the remains of bones, shells, pieces of wood, and plants—there are even fossilized footprints. herbivorous: living on a diet of plants. Herbivorous dinosaurs would have been most plentiful wherever there was a good supply of plants and water. neck frill: fan-shaped structure of skin and bone on the back of some dinosaurs’ necks order: one of two groups of dinosaurs, who were divided based on the way their hips worked The Author Ornithischia: one of the two orders of Paul Mason is a prolific author of children’s books, many dinosaur. Ornithischian dinosaurs were award‑nominated, on such subjects as 101 ways to save “bird-hipped,” with hips that looked the planet, vile things that go wrong with the human similar to a bird’s. body, and the world’s looniest inventors. Many contain surprising, unbelievable, or just plain revolting facts. Saurischia: one of the two orders of Today, he lives at a secret location on the coast of Europe, dinosaur. Saurischian dinosaurs were where his writing shack usually smells of drying wetsuit “lizard-hipped,” with hips that looked like (he’s a former international swimmer and a keen surfer). a modern lizard’s. The Illustrator Picture credits Andre Leonard trained at Camberwell art school in t= top, b= bottom, l = left, m = middle, London and at Leicester University.