DINOSAURS AND THE HISTORY OF LIFE
GEOLOGY V1001y
PRACTICE FINAL EXAM - ANSWERS
Answers are in red
I. TRUE - FALSE: CIRCLE TRUE OR FALSE TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
1. Dinosaurs did not have to regulate their body temperature because
they were all very large.
True - False
2. In endothermy the main method of thermoregulation is behavioral.
True - False
3. The diplodocid sauropods include Apatosaurus .
True - False
4. The Carnosauria includes birds.
True - False
5. Dinosaurs have high predator/prey ratios
True - False
II. MULTIPLE CHOICE: Circle the BEST choice.
1. The air sac system in birds function mostly as:
a) as accessory lungs to remove more oxygen.
b) protection against the cold.
c) evaporative cooling devices.
d) passageways allowing a one-way direction
of air
2. The Maniraptora include:
a) Deinonychus, birds, and
Velociraptor
b) Plateosaurus, Oviraptor, and Archaeopteryx
c) Ornitholestes, Allosaurus, and Struthiomimus
d) Velociraptor, Coelophysis, and Dilophosaurus
3. The semilunate carpal is:
a) a phase of the moon
b) a bone in the hand producing a rocking,
bird-like motion of the wrist
c) a bone in the hand which evolved in birds to permit flight
d) one half of the wishbone
4. Archaeopteryx is of:
a) Late Triassic age
b) Early Jurassic age
c) Late Jurassic age
e) Early Cretaceous age
5. Iridium is:
a) a radioactive element useful in dating Cretaceous rocks
b) an element indicative of a supernova at the end of the Cretaceous
c) an element found in a clay layer at
the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary
d) an element diagnostic of asteroid impacts
III. SHORT ANSWER: Give a one to three sentence answer.
1. How can we tell that sauropods did not walk with a sprawling
gait and posture?
-
Trackways indicate erect posture
-
Structure of pelvis/head of femur indicate erect
posture.
-
Belly would make a trench in ground (remember
picture in class?!)
2. Why do big animals lose heat slower than small animals?
-
Surface area: volume ratio is less in large animals
than small.
-
Therefore relatively less surface area from which
to lose heat.
3. What are Haversian canals and what do they do?
-
Sites of bone dissolution & reprecipitation.
-
Indicates repeated stress on the bone.
-
The presence of numerous Haversian canals indicates
continuous growth, which requires high metabolic rate, and is characteristic
of endotherms.
4. Archaeopteryx is a tetanurine. Why?
-
Loss of manus digits IV and V and it is a mairaptoran,
which is within the Tetanura.
5. Name three western North American, Late Cretaceous herbivorous genera
and one carnivorous genus of dinosaur that may have eaten them.
-
Carnivores: Struthiomimus (ornithomimid),
Stenonychosaurus (troodontid), Albertosaurus (tyrannosaur)
-
Herbivores: Edmontonia (nodosaur); Euoplocephalus
(ankylosaurid);
Pachycephalosaurus,
Stegoceras (pachycephalosaurs);
Centrosaurus, Monoclonius, Styracosaurus
Triceratops (neoceratopsians); Parasaurolophus, Lambeosaurus Edmontosaurus
Anatotitan (hadrosaurs).
IV. SHORT ESSAY: PREPARE A SHORT ESSAY (2 TO 3 PARAGRAPHS) ON ONE OF
THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: WRITE YOUR ANSWERS IN FULL SENTENCES IN
THE SPACE PROVIDED BELOW.
1. What is the evidence and what are the arguments that dinosaurs were
warm blooded and controlled their body temperature by internal means (i.e.
were endothermic homeotherms)? Be as specific as possible.
-
Bone structure - e.g. Haversian canals (explain - see short answer
q. 3!!).
-
Trackways: not sinuous, indicating not crocodilian-style breathing.
-
Trackways: feet close together (across width of trackway), indicating
erect posture.
-
Low predator-prey ratios, similar to modern mammals.
-
Air sacs - evaporative cooling.
-
Size of dinosaur: large are like elephants, inertial homeotherms; small
are like shrews or birds, need to conserve heat.
-
Phylogenetic relationships: (birds are dinosaurs).
-
Feathers: dinosaurs have feathers or feathery coating indicating heat
conservation at small body sizes,
V. DINOSAURIAN RELATIONSHIPS: Fill out the following cladogram with
the characters and taxa listed below, placing the number of each character
next to the bar in the cladogram which defines the groups and write the
names of the groups on the dashed lines.
VI. DINOSAURIAN ANATOMY AND IDENTIFICATION: There will be a skeleton
for you to label the bones of as in the last exam. However, you will also
have to classify it. For example, identify the skeleton as a tyrannosaurid
- coelurosaur - theropod (all of them!, based on the characters
you observe on the drawing.
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