Dino Dinners Now serving dinosaur descendants. Thanksgiving is commonly associated with a celebration including a turkey dinner. There was a day when there were no grocery stores, no restaurants or drive-thrus. Dinosaurs had to seek out their food in order to survive. Paleontologists can speculate what each species might have eaten based on several factors, including their physical build, teeth and claws. What do you think dinosaurs prepared for dinner when they roamed the earth 65 million years ago? And do you know what you’re really eating when you sit down for your turkey dinner?
Transcript
1. Dino Dinners Now serving dinosaur descendants. Thanksgiving
is commonly associated with a celebration including a turkey
dinner. There was a day when there were no grocery stores, no
restaurants or drive-thrus. Dinosaurs had to seek out their food in
order to survive. Paleontologists can speculate what each species
might have eaten based on several factors, including their physical
build, teeth and claws. What do you think dinosaurs prepared for
dinner when they roamed the earth 65 million years ago? And do you
know what youre really eating when you sit down for your turkey
dinner?
2. Allosaurus Now serving dinosaur descendants. Allosaurus was
a large, carnivorous (meat-eating) theropod dinosaur (avg.
8-10m/25-30ft). These features helped them capture and eat their
prey: Powerfully clawed hands Recurved, serrated teeth designed for
biting and cutting meat It shared its environment with gigantic
plant-eating sauropods (such as Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, and
Camarasaurus), Stegosaurs, and other potential large prey. We can
speculate that Allosaurus would have preyed upon younger (and
smaller), or ailing sauropods, as well as other moderate-sized to
smaller plant-eaters. It is likely these creatures would have also
taken advantage of and scavenged carcasses it came across as well.
Click the video to see an animatronic replica of the
Allosaurus.
3. Stegosaurus Now serving dinosaur descendants. Stegosaurus
was a strict herbivore (plant- eater). These characteristics give
paleontologists scientific evidence of the food they ate: Narrow
snout and jaws Low, leaf-shaped teeth designed for coarsely
chopping and cutting plants into chunks small enough to swallow.
Stegosaurus probably spent much of its time browsing at low levels
on plants such as ferns and cycads, never feeding too high off the
ground. Grasses would NOT have been on the menu though, for they
wouldn't evolve for another 100 million years or more after
Stegosaurus existed. Click the video to see an animatronic replica
of the Stegosaurus.
4. Deinonychus Now serving dinosaur descendants. Click the
video to see an animatronic replica of the Deinonychus.Deinonychus
was a wolf-sized predator that likely preyed on other small
dinosaurs (including the young of much larger dinosaurs species)
lizards, early mammals and the like. They were equipped with
carnivorous features that allowed them to hunt their prey: Lethal
array of meat-hook-like claws on its hands Huge, sickle-shaped claw
on the second toe of each foot Deinonychus remains have been found
on more than one occasion associated with the remains of
Tenontosaurus, a 20ft-long plant-eating dinosaur, fueling
speculation that perhaps Deinonychus engaged in group or pack
hunting of larger prey.
5. Thanksgiving Turkey Now serving dinosaur descendants. This
Thanksgiving, it is likely that you will be sitting down to slice
up and devour a steaming, golden- brown, delicious, oven-roasted
dinosaur, complete with stuffing and mashed-potatoes. Wait a
dinosaur? Birds are descendants (and members) of an evolutionary
line of small, carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. Being a descendent
of a dinosaur makes birds, including turkeys, a dinosaur no matter
how specialized or different looking they may be from that
ancestor. Happy Thanksgiving. Savor every last bite of your
dinosaur!
6. Hungry for more Dinosaur Information? See these and other
dinosaurs in action in the Dinosaurs Unearthed exhibit at the
Museum of Nature & Science. Purchase advanced tickets online
today! Museum of Nature & Science in Dallas 3535 Grand Avenue
and 1318 S. 2nd Avenue in Fair Park www.natureandscience.org
7. Hungry for more Dinosaur Information? See these and other
dinosaurs in action in the Dinosaurs Unearthed exhibit at the
Museum of Nature & Science. Purchase advanced tickets online
today! Museum of Nature & Science in Dallas 3535 Grand Avenue
and 1318 S. 2nd Avenue in Fair Park www.natureandscience.org