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Welcome to Dino 101, an online coursewhere you will learn about one ofthe most fascinating and successful animalgroups to ever inhabit this planet.Dinosaurs.Together, we're going to explore the manyfacets of the lives and behaviors orthese incredible animals.We'll learn about their anatomy.Family trees, eating habits, predatory anddefensive adaptations, and much more.In addition, we'll put dinosaurs incontext with the geological history ofthe planet.We'll find out where they came from, andwhat ultimately led to their demise.[INAUDIBLE] You'll also havethe opportunity to explore a set ofyour very own virtual fossils,through our unique 3D fossil viewer.In addition, you'll interact withdinosaur bones and phylogenetic trees,using an interactive module built just foryour use in this course.

I can't think of a better way to learnabout dinosaurs, and I hope you'll agree.We're in a for a real adventure.Let's start with the peoplewho study dinosaurs.I'm lucky to be one of them.We are scientists called Paleontologists.Although scientists have beenintrigued with ancient life forcenturies, paleontology really cameinto its own in the 19th century.The first paleontologists learned aboutdinosaurs by studying the fossilized bones

they left behind.The word fossil literally means dug up,butmore broadly, the word refersto any evidence of ancient life.Today we explore the lives and behaviorof dinosaurs using many other techniques.Including comparative biology andgenetic analysis.Paleontology is a dynamic and vibrantscience that utilizes all sorts of tools,from hammers andchisels to CT scanners and synchrotrons.

But our best resourcesare the fantastic scientists.Would've worked their entirelives to expand our knowledge ofthe greatest creaturesto ever walk the earth.I'd like to introduce you toone of these paleontologists.Here's Dr.Phil Curry from the University of Alberta.

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He's at the Royal Tyrrell Museum ofPaleontology in Drumheller, Alberta.Let's listen in andhear what he has to say.It's an incredible experienceto walk around museums likethe Royal Tyrrell Museumof Paleontology andwonder at the incredibleskeletons of these dinosaurs.In this module, we will learnthe basics of what a dinosaur is andI emphasis is rather than was,because we still have thousands of speciesof dinosaurs living with us today.We just call them birds.But let's talk about dinosaursin the classical sense.They lived during a period of timecalled the Mesozoic Era which startedabout 250 million years ago andended about 65 million years ago.Dinosaurs were the largestto ever walk the Earth.

Magnificent animals byanybody's definition.Here are some questions immediatelyjump to mind about them.Were they the largestanimals that ever lived?Were they all big?What makes a dinosaur a dinosaur anyway?And how can studying fossils tell usabout the diversity of their body forms.Their diets, their physiology, andeven how they interacted or behaved.You will learn the answers to these and

many more questions as we workthrough this course together.>> So lets test your knowledgeof what a dinosaur is.Which of these animals are dinosaurs.There might be more than one correctanswer, so check all you think apply.A, Dimetrodom, B, a Sauropod,C, Tiktaalik, or D, Mammoth.There is only one dinosaur here andthat is the Sauropod, soB is the correct answer.All of these other animals are not

dinosaurs even though they are extinct.Here once again is doctor Phil Currie.He's going to explain whatthe word dinosaur means.Thanks Betsy.The word dinosaur literally meansterrible lizard, but to different people,dinosaur means different things.So for example,many people have the misconception that

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any extinct large reptile is a dinosaur.Others will even include any largeextinct animal including mammals likemammoths and mastodons.However, to a paleontologist, the worddinosaur has a very precise definition andthis is based on very finickity, precise,little anatomical details in the skeleton.So if we look at this Gorgosaurusbehind me, we can see for example,in the skull, when you look in frontof the eyes in the middle of the skull,there's a very large openingin the side of the face.That's an air sinus.And that's one of many characterswe look for when we look forextinct animals to see ifthey're dinosaurs or not.Another major category in differencesin dinosaurs is in the hind limbs.Basically the earliest dinosaurs pulledtheir legs underneath their body andby doing that they re-orientated

everything in their legs, andtheir hips and their feet.And as a paleontologist all we have to dois look at the ankle of this animal andwe can tell that it is a dinosaur.Because no other animalshares those characters.Except, of course,their descendants, the birds.>> The British naturalist Sir Richard Oweninvented the term dinosaurover 107 years ago.At that time, no complete dinosaur

skeletons had been found.Only a few fragmentary specimensfrom a small number ofdifferent species where known.There was a jaw, a partial hip,and a few other bits andpieces from the largetherapod megalosaurus.There were teeth, vertebrae, andlimb bones from the ornithopod Iguanodon.And finally, he had some ribs,incomplete shoulder girdles,a small portion of skull, and osteoderms

from the thyreophoran hylaeosaurus.Each of these three dinosaurshad previously been described inthe scientific literature, andeach had been identified as someform of extinct giant reptile.But Sir Richard Owen was the first torealize that all three showed an unusualcombination of anatomical traitsthat suggested that they were all

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more closely related to each other thanany of them were to any living reptile.Among the traits that Owen realized,the trio of bizarreprehistoric animals shared.Were teeth that grew in sockets,like modern crocodiles.And erect limbs like mammals and birds.These shared similarities, Owen reasoned,could not simply be coincidental.And he put forward the hypothesis thatMegalosaurus, Iguanodon, and Heleosaurus.Belong together in a single natural group.He named that group the dinosoria.Dino meaning fearfully great, andsoria meaning lizards or reptiles.A great deal has changed sinceOwen coined the term dinosoria.Our understanding of what makesan animal a dinosaur has been defined.The list of shared anatomicalfeatures that unitesthe Dinosauria has lengthened andimproved.

>> As we work our way through this modulewe're going to learn about the bones ofthe skeleton.What some of the important characteristicsof dinosaur skeletons are, andhow we can use skeletons to telldifferent types of dinosaurs apart.Almost everything we know about dinosaurscomes back to the fossilized bones,bones are made of minerals, andbecause they do not rot away as quicklyas muscle fiber, hair, or feathers,.Bones are more likely to fossilize

than other body structures.In order to understand dinosaurs,you need to understand how skeletons areput together and that's coming shortly.We look at the skeletons of dinosaurs inorder to understand how many species therewere, the adaptations in each species, andhow ecosystems have changed through time.In this lesson, we'll talk a lot aboutdifferent kinds of dinosaurs, andtheir various adaptations.Adaptations orfeatures or traits serve particular

functions and are the result of evolution.For example, let's look ata skeleton of a bird of prey.>> Here's the skeleton of an eagle.Which of these three featuresdo you think are adaptations?Wings, large eyes, or sharp talons?Check the box of everyanswer you think is correct.In fact, all of these are adaptations,

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and are the result of evolution.Wings enable an excellentform of movement, flight.Large eyes enable keen eyesight forspotting prey.And sharp talons allow forthe catching of elusive prey.