Front row, from left: Don Cerio, Izzi, Elizabeth, Ruger Porter,
Allister, Matt, Sidney, M'Kinzy, Evelyn, Nadia. Second row:
Ashley Morhardt, Ashley, Elsa Heiner, Devin, María, Catherine Early,
Michael, Jason. Back row: Lexie Spaw, Shayna Knece, Larry Witmer
Field
Guide to the Dinosaurs of the WitmerLab
The Young Scholars OHIO program—in conjunction with the
OU
Office of the Vice President for Research,
Department of Environmental and Plant Biology, and
Sarah Wyatt, PhD—brought about 48 profoundly gifted students from
12 states across the country, as well as from Canada and
Spain, to Ohio
University for a range of enrichment programs. WitmerLab
hosted 11 of these students, aged 10–14, on 1 October
2013 for a
workshop entitled "Fleshing out dinosaurs with the
Visible Interactive Dinosaur Project" wherein the students worked with the
80+
dinosaur skull casts in the lab and with WitmerLab staff and
students to learn how paleontologists "flesh out"
out the past. In addition to discovering the diversity
and drama of dinosaur evolution, the students created
this Field Guide to the Dinosaurs of the WitmerLab. A
more complete photo gallery to our dinosaur skull cast
collection can be found on our
WitmerLab Collection page. All photography by Liz
Gauthier.
This video ran on the lab big-screen during the
workshop.
Here's
more.
Evelyn & Archaeopteryx
María & Triceratops
Sidney &
Conchoraptor
My favorite dinosaur is
Archaeopteryx because it provides a possible
“missing link” between dinosaurs and birds.
Birds are living dinosaurs, and Archaeopteryx
was something in between. It had feathers and
hollow bones, but also reptilian features like
claws. It had a big brain compared to its body
size. It was also very well preserved, so a lot
can be learned about it.
Triceratops is a dinosaur that evolved
from earlier ceratopsians. They had three horns
that we think that they used for defense of
their food and their babies and, maybe if there
was a female, for fighting over a mate. They had
a frill (it looks like a crown to me), which we
think that they used for display and for keeping
them cold like an air conditioner. They were
herbivores. Their teeth were like little, tiny,
and grinding. They lived in the Cretaceous
Period in North America. It is my favourite
dinosaur because it is kind of cool that they
had horns, and I like them too because they
could be territorial.
My favorite dinosaur is the Conchoraptor
gracilis, a smaller raptor. They lived in
the late Cretaceous period, around 76 million
years ago. Conchoraptors laid their eggs
in nests, and guarded them as well. The small
raptors were possibly omnivores, judged by their
lack of any teeth and their hard “beaks”. The
bones of the Conchoraptor have been found
in Mongolia, some inside the Gobi Desert.
Matt &
Velociraptor
Devin & Cystophora
(hooded seal)
Ashley & Smilodon
Velociraptors had big claws. They used
them to slash at their prey. They could not fly.
They were carnivores. Velociraptors were
relatives of other birds, such as ostriches.
Okay, Okay. My team name is Team Lyle: the
Advancing Armadillo. Team Lyle: the Advancing
Armadillo finds a second sword. Team! Ly! Le!
The Ad-Van-Cing Ar! Ma-Dill! O! Team Lyle: the
Advancing Armadillo wins!
My favorite creature is the hooded seal. The
male has a very large nasal cavity that when he
is trying to impress a mate or rival males, he
seals either one of its nostrils and blows up a
red balloon with his septum, or he seals both
nostrils and inflates a skin flap to make a
black balloon. I think that this is super cool.
We have evidence that he may also just inflate
balloons for no reason when he is alone. [Note:
we know this isn't a dinosaur or even extinct,
but we totally agree with Devin that hooded
seals are super cool!]
Smilodon fatalis was a prehistoric feline
that is currently more well-known as the
saber-toothed tiger. Its famed fangs could grow
up to eight inches long, and were streamlined
and thin with small serrated edges. Those fangs
may have, in theory, been used to stab its
victims and hold on with the whole jaw. It was a
medium-sized cat, not as large as a Siberian
tiger, but larger than cougars and some other
modern big cats. Unlike nimravids and marsupial
‘cats’ (such as Thylacosmilus and
Thylacoleo), the fangs lacked a bony sheath
to tuck into when not in use. Smilodon
lived in the Tertiary Period in North America,
along with mammoths, mastodons, Glyptodon,
and giant ground sloths.
Elizabeth
& Thylacosmilus
M'Kinzy & Parasaurolophus
Allister
& Struthiomimus
My favorite dinosaurs/animals in the room are
the Saber-tooth tigers, and things that look
like it. I also liked the Tyrannosaurusrexes. It was cool that it was possible
that the dinosaur that looked like a baby
Tyrannosaurus might be a different animal.
Parasaurolophus was a duck-billed
dinosaur believed to make sounds in its long
crest. The crest might have also been a display
structure used to get a mate or to tell it from
other dinosaurs. It was an herbivore so it had
flat grinding teeth made to not wear down over
time. For a dinosaur of its size, it had a
fairly large brain but it was still a small
brain overall. It's thought to have lived in
groups.
Struthiomimus were
dinosaurs who looked very similar to ostriches
and had an estimated speed of 30 miles per hour.
They were omnivorous with a diet of mainly bugs
and leaves. They usually used their speed to run
away from predators. They have large eyes and a
relatively small brain. Their predators were
mainly large carnivores like T. rex and
Allosaurus.
Michael &
Velociraptor
Nadia
& Archaeopteryx
My favorite specimen that is in this lab is
Velociraptor. The Velociraptor is a deadly
predator. The Velociraptor used sophisticated
hunting techniques to kill prey. I like Velociraptor
because of its hunting techniques, its brain power, and
because they were social. Velociraptor hunted
small dinosaurs when it was alone. It would hunt larger
dinosaurs when it hunted in groups. The Velociraptor
would have used superior brain power to find their prey.
This feather covered dinosaur would then, ATTACK! Using
a deadly claw, the predator would stab into the flesh of
a prey, it would then rip the poor animal to shreds with
razor sharp teeth. Velociraptor was one of the
most intelligent dinosaurs, it brain size to its body
size compared to other dinosaurs was about 4:1! This
amazing ratio allowed it to decimate prey using superior
tactics, thus making Velociraptor a deadly
predator. The Velociraptor was quite social. It
would use its sophisticated vocal cords to contact other
Velociraptors. This made the prey even more
hopeless. In conclusion, I liked it because
Velociraptor was a hunter, it was smart, and because
it was social, thus making Velociraptor a deadly
murderer. However t’was beautiful and graceful as an
flower, a Rose to be more exact.
It’s kind of hard to choose a favorite dinosaur
for me. There are too many to pick. But I think
that I like Archaeopteryx—is that how you
spell it?—the most. The only thing that
separated them from fictitious dragons was the
fire breath. I love Triceratops and
Apatosaurus as well, the gentle giants that
they were. And Tyrannosaurus rex! The
“tyrant king of dinosaurs!” They were indeed
ferocious creatures. Stegosaurus had the
plates on its back—sometimes I wonder how it got
that way. Your Diplodocus skull makes me
laugh—the big mouth and lost expression. Even
though Smilodon wasn’t a dinosaur, I love
that little prehistoric kitty cat just the same.
Ankylosaurus is cool—frequent
head-butting must have broken some of their
skulls sometimes! Ouchie! Velociraptor
must have been fierce—I would have hated to come
across one of those guys! I like how your
skeletons of a chicken and an ostrich help me
compare the dinosaurs to their (I guess) distant
relatives. Well, that’s all for now. You’re
awesome.
Catherine with M'Kinzy and María
Ashley, Devin, and María
Ohio University
Heritage
College of Osteopathic Medicine
Irvine Hall, Athens, Ohio 45701 740-593-2530 740-597-2778 fax
