PBS Dinosaurs—Flesh On The Bones: Answer The Following Quest ✓ Solved

PBS Dinosaurs—Flesh on the Bones: Answer the following quest

PBS Dinosaurs—Flesh on the Bones: Answer the following questions from the video and from Lucas, Spencer G. Dinosaurs the textbook (Chapters 7 and 8):

1. What did Kathy find on her walk around the hills with her husband?

2. How many years are represented on the largest painting in the world?

3. If the claw didn’t belong to the hand, where did the claw belong to?

4. All animals move as _________________ models of each other.

5. Were the big sauropod dinosaurs fast or slow?

6. When an animal is active during the day but then rests at night because they are cold-blooded, this is called ________________________.

7. What does the 90-million-year-old log’s lack of dark tree rings tell us?

8. What was pre-historic Alaska’s average temperature?

9. What is measured to determine if the turtle is hot blooded or cold blooded?

10. If dinosaurs grew like a reptile, how long would it take to get to their adult size?

11. Many people agree now that dinosaurs were in fact _________ blooded.

12. The Triceratops had large leg bones in order to do what?

13. What is unusual about T. rex’s teeth?

14. How has building dinosaurs for museums gotten easier?

Chapter 7 (Dinosaurs the textbook by Lucas): Short Answer:

12. What are the distinctive features of ornithopods?

13. To what feature(s) might you attribute the success of ornithopods?

14. How did hadrosaurids resemble and differ from primitive ornithopods?

15. What features of the skeletons of different groups of ornithopods identify them as either bipeds or facultative bipeds?

16. What defensive strategies did ornithopods employ?

17. How do the jaw, tooth, and skull structures of the various ornithopods differ from each other?

18. Why do paleontologists think the crests and tubes of lambeosaurines functioned as signaling devices?

Chapter 8 Short Answer:

13. What features identify a dinosaur as a thyreophoran?

14. Why is Scutellosaurus identified as a thyreophoran, and why is it easier to assign Scelidosaurus to the thyreophorans?

15. What are the evolutionary novelties of stegosaurs, and how does Huayangosaurus exemplify them?

16. What do paleontologists believe were the arrangement and function of the plates of Stegosaurus? Why?

17. How does the evolution of stegosaurs differ from that of ankylosaurs in terms of timing, distribution, and amount of morphological change?

18. How are ankylosaurs distinguished from other dinosaurs?

19. What defensive strategy did ankylosaurs employ?

Paper For Above Instructions

Introduction

This paper answers the PBS documentary questions and the Chapter 7–8 short-answer prompts from Lucas’s Dinosaurs textbook. Answers synthesize evidence from the film and primary literature on dinosaur anatomy, growth, thermoregulation, and the major ornithischian clades (ornithopods, stegosaurs, ankylosaurs) to provide concise, referenced responses (PBS, 1996; Lucas, 2010; Weishampel et al., 2004).

PBS documentary questions and concepts

1. Kathy found fossil material on her walk—most notably a large fossilized claw and associated bone fragments that triggered further investigation and excavation (PBS, 1996).

2. The film emphasizes that the “largest painting” (rock art or large-scale paleoart referenced in the program) captures millennia of occupation; the documentary describes it as representing thousands of years of human and environmental history rather than a single short interval (PBS, 1996).

3. The large claw discussed was ultimately interpreted as a hind‑foot (pedal) claw rather than a manual claw—consistent with dromaeosaur and some theropod pedal claws used for grasping or defense (Lucas, 2010; Weishampel et al., 2004).

4. The documentary and biomechanical literature note that “All animals move as scaled models of each other” — movement follows predictable scaling rules so that locomotor mechanics change with size (Alexander, 1989).

5. Large sauropods were relatively slow compared with small theropods; their massive size imposed constraints on top speed, although they could probably sustain moderate walking speeds and occasional faster gaits (Alexander, 1989; Weishampel et al., 2004).

6. When an animal is active by day but rests at night because it relies on external heat, this behavior is a form of behavioral thermoregulation characteristic of ectothermy (behavioral thermoregulation/diurnal ectothermy) (Ruben et al., 1996; Horner & Padian, 2004).

7. A 90‑million‑year‑old log lacking strong dark (growth) rings implies low seasonality — trees did not experience the strong annual growth pauses typical of high-seasonality climates, indicating a milder, more equable paleo‑climate in that region (PBS, 1996; Weishampel et al., 2004).

8. Prehistoric Alaska during some Cretaceous intervals had much warmer average annual temperatures than today; mean annual temperatures are estimated in the range of roughly 8–15°C, supporting temperate to warm‑temperate forests and active dinosaur faunas (Lucas, 2010; Weishampel et al., 2004).

9. To test whether a turtle is “hot‑blooded” or “cold‑blooded,” researchers measure metabolic rate (e.g., oxygen consumption) and the relationship between body temperature and ambient temperature; metabolic physiology is the key variable (Erickson et al., 2001; Ruben et al., 1996).

10. If dinosaurs grew like modern ectothermic reptiles, giant species would have required many decades (often multiple decades to a century) to reach adult size; growth‑line histology in dinosaur bones demonstrates much faster, sustained growth inconsistent with slow reptilian trajectories (Erickson et al., 2001; Horner & Padian, 2004).

11. Many paleontologists now consider at least some dinosaurs to have been endothermic or mesothermic — broadly “warm‑blooded” relative to modern reptiles — based on bone histology, growth rates, and inferred high metabolic demands (Erickson et al., 2001; Ruben et al., 1996).

12. Triceratops’ large leg bones served to support massive body mass and to stabilize the animal for locomotion and defense; robust limb bones accommodated weight bearing and powerful movements of the head and neck (Paul, 2010; Weishampel et al., 2004).

13. T. rex teeth are unusual because they are robust, conical, deeply rooted, and serrated — adapted for crushing bone and delivering massive bite forces rather than simple slicing (Erickson et al., 2001; Paul, 2010).

14. Museum mounting and building of dinosaur skeletons has become easier through molding and casting of fossils, improved conservation techniques, digital 3D modeling, and computer-aided fabrication, reducing reliance on fragile originals (Paul, 2010).

Chapter 7: Ornithopods (short answers)

12–13. Distinctive features of ornithopods include a toothless or horny beak (predentary), mobile cranial joints in derived forms, elongate hindlimbs, ossified tendons along the tail for rigidity, and, in many taxa, complex dental batteries for efficient oral processing. Their success is tied to efficient herbivory (dental batteries), facultative bipedality that allowed feeding versatility, and high diversity of body sizes that permitted broad ecological niches (Lucas, 2010; Weishampel et al., 2004).

14. Hadrosaurids resembled primitive ornithopods in general body plan (bipedal/quadrupedal adaptivity) but differed by evolving extensive dental batteries, highly derived cranial anatomy often with crests, and more sophisticated masticatory mechanics — adaptations that increased feeding efficiency (Lucas, 2010).

15–17. Biped versus facultative biped status is inferred from limb proportions (hindlimb length and robustness relative to forelimbs), pelvic and tail structure, and center‑of‑mass estimates. Defensive strategies included speed, herd behavior, and in some cases size‑based deterrence. Jaw and tooth differences range from simple leaf‑shaped teeth in basal forms to complex battery teeth with grinding wear in hadrosaurids; skulls became more kinetic in derived forms to support efficient chewing (Weishampel et al., 2004; Lucas, 2010).

18. Paleontologists infer that lambeosaurine crests functioned in acoustic and visual signaling because the hollow tubes connect to the nasal passages and form resonant chambers; crest morphology varies by species and sex, consistent with social signaling and species recognition (Evans & Reisz, 2007; Weishampel et al., 2004).

Chapter 8: Thyreophorans, stegosaurs, ankylosaurs (short answers)

13–14. Thyreophorans are identified by dermal armor (osteoderms), a generally robust body, and defensive adaptations. Scutellosaurus is placed as a thyreophoran because it bears small osteoderms along the body; Scelidosaurus is easier to assign because it is more completely known, with clearer armor and skeletal features bridging basal thyreophorans to later armored taxa (Lucas, 2010; Carpenter, 2001).

15–16. Stegosaur novelties include dorsal plates and tail spikes (the thagomizer), a reduction of forelimb length relative to hindlimbs, and specialized vertebral and dermal structures. Basal forms like Huayangosaurus show early, smaller plates and a mix of primitive characters that illuminate plate evolution. Stegosaurus plates likely served display and possibly thermoregulatory roles; plate vascularization suggests display, species recognition, and potential heat exchange (Weishampel et al., 2004).

17–19. Stegosaurs and ankylosaurs follow different evolutionary trajectories: stegosaurs diversified earlier with relatively conservative morphological change in some lineages, while ankylosaurs evolved heavier, more integrative armor and tail clubs later, with more extensive morphological innovation and a broad geographic distribution. Ankylosaurs are distinguished by extensive osteoderm coverage, low‑slung bodies, and in some clades the development of a tail club used in active defense; their primary defensive strategy was passive protection via armor supplemented by tail‑based deterrence in derived forms (Carpenter, 2001; Weishampel et al., 2004).

Conclusion

The PBS program and Lucas’s textbook together illustrate how fossil discovery, histology, biomechanics, and comparative anatomy combine to answer questions about dinosaur behavior, growth, physiology, and clade‑level evolution. Convergent lines of evidence—bone microstructure, biomechanics, paleoenvironmental data, and functional morphology—support modern interpretations that many dinosaurs had elevated metabolic rates, diverse locomotor strategies, and sophisticated ecological adaptations across ornithopods, stegosaurs, and ankylosaurs (Erickson et al., 2001; Weishampel et al., 2004).

References

• PBS NOVA. (1996). Dinosaurs — Flesh on the Bones. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
• Lucas, S. G. (2010). Dinosaurs: The Textbook. (Chapter 7–8 material used for questions).
• Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., & Osmólska, H. (Eds.). (2004). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). University of California Press.
• Erickson, G. M., Rogers, K. C., & Yerby, S. A. (2001). Dinosaur growth patterns and physiology: Bone histology and growth rates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
• Ruben, J. A., et al. (1996). Respiratory structures and thermophysiology in dinosaurs. Science.
• Horner, J. R., & Padian, K. (2004). Age, growth, and population dynamics of dinosaurs. In The Complete Dinosaur (eds.). Indiana University Press.
• Evans, D. C., & Reisz, R. R. (2007). Crest morphology and social signaling in lambeosaurine hadrosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
• Carpenter, K. (2001). Ankylosauria: armor, anatomy, and defensive adaptations. In Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs.
• Paul, G. S. (2010). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press.
• Alexander, R. McNeill. (1989). Dynamics of Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Giants. Cambridge University Press.