Paleontology ›  Unit 2

Unit 2 Dinosaur Biology

Skeletons, trackways, growth rings, and body heat: how bones and footprints tell us the way a dinosaur moved, grew, and lived. Ends with you rewriting a museum placard that got it wrong.

🕐 10 class days🅰️ 4 Activities🅿️ 2 Projects🅱️ 1 Problem
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The Path Through Unit 2

The museum's big theropod has stood in the same pose since 1975, next to a placard nobody has touched since. Now they're taking it down, and they want the new version to be right. Read the full case →
2.1How a dinosaur moved4 days
PProject🕐 2 class days

P2.1.3  Run, Rex, Run

You get a measured trackway: footprint lengths and stride lengths for three dinosaurs. Estimate each animal's hip height and speed, then draw it to scale next to a human. The formula gives you a number; deciding whether that number makes sense is the real task.

Turn in: Speed calculations + scale drawing beside a humanOpen →
2.2How a dinosaur grew and lived4 days
PProject🕐 2 class days

P2.2.3  Growth Curve

Use growth-ring counts and leg-bone measurements from several specimens of one species to build a growth curve. Estimate how fast it grew and how old each individual was when it died, then compare the curve to a crocodile's and a bird's.

Turn in: Growth curve graph + age and mass estimates for each specimenOpen →
2.3Unit problem2 days
BProblem🕐 2 class days

B2.3.1  Rewrite the Placard

A museum is remounting an old skeleton and wants a new placard. You get the skeleton's measurements, a trackway from the same rock unit, and a thin section of its thighbone. Decide how it stood, how fast it could move, how old it was, and how it ran its body. Then correct the old placard and defend every change.

Turn in: Annotated pose sketch + revised placard with evidence for each claimOpen →