Tyrannosaurs – Meet the Family
Teacher resource
Years 1 to 8
An exhibition at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa,
developed by the Australian Museum
27 September 2014 to 8 February 2015
[Logos, as per web page]
1 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Contents
Tyrannosaurs – Meet the Family ........................................................................................... 1
Contents
......................................................................................................................... 2
About this resource ............................................................................................................... 3
Curriculum links ..................................................................................................................... 4
Background information......................................................................................................... 6
Class activities ...................................................................................................................121
Activity resources .................................................................................................................13
2 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
About this resource
This resource was designed to support a visit to Tyrannosaurs – Meet the Family while it was
at Te Papa – since the exhibition finished it has been adjusted to be a stand-alone resource
about tyrannosaurs and dinosaurs. Inside, you’ll find information about the dinosaurs, and
specifically tyrannosaurs, as well as some class activities to support your students’ learning.
3 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Curriculum links
The resource is directly relevant to the strands from the Science learning area of the New
Zealand Curriculum in the table below.
Some of activities are also linked to the Arts, Numeracy (mathematics and statistics),
Nature of Science
Technology, and Literacy learning areas.
Levels 1 & 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Understanding
Understanding
Understanding
Understanding
about science
about science
about science
about science




Appreciate that
Appreciate that
Appreciate that
Understand that
scientists ask
science is a way
science is a way
scientists’
questions about
of explaining the
of explaining the
investigations are
our world that
world and that
world and that
informed by
lead to
science
science
current scientific
investigations and
knowledge
knowledge
theories and aim
that open-
changes over
changes over
to collect
mindedness is
time.
time.
evidence that will
important
be interpreted
because there
through the
may be more than
process of logical
one explanation.
argument.
Communicating in
Communicating in
Communicating in
Communicating in
science
science
science
science




Build their
Begin to use a
Begin to use a
Use a wider
language and
range of scientific
range of scientific
range of science
develop their
symbols,
symbols,
vocabulary,
understandings of
conventions, and
conventions, and
symbols, and
the many ways
vocabulary.
vocabulary.
conventions.
the natural world
can be
represented.
4 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Levels 1 & 2
Level 3
Level 4
Evolution
Evolution
Evolution



Recognise that
Living World
Begin to group
there are lots of
plants, animals,
plants, animals,
different living
and other living
and other living
things in the world
things into
things into
and that they can
science-based
science-based
be grouped in
classifications.
classifications.
different ways.

Begin to group

Explore how the

Explore how the
Explain how we
groups of living
groups of living
know that some
things we have in
things we have in
living things from
the world have
the world have
the past are now
changed over
changed over
extinct.
long periods of
long periods of
time.
time.
Life processes
Life processes
Life processes



Recognise that all
Recognise that
Recognise that
living things have
there are life
there are life
certain
processes
processes
requirements so
common to all
common to all
they can stay
living things and
living things and
alive.
that these occur
that these occur
in different ways.
in different ways.
5 of 37
Level 5
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Background information
In this section:

What’s a dinosaur? (below)

What’s a tyrannosaur? (page 8)

Tyrannosaurs featured in the exhibition (page 9)

Fossils (page 10)
What’s a dinosaur?
Dinosaurs are a group of animals that share the identifiable features in the diagram below.
Diagram of Eoraptor skeleton showing the main physical features of dinosaurs
6 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
What’s a tyrannosaur?
Four main features distinguish tyrannosaurs from other dinosaurs.
Four features specific to tyrannosaurs
Fused nasal bones
Only tyrannosaurs had fused nasal bones in their skulls.
The fused bones strengthened their snouts and gave them a
stronger bite.
D-shaped teeth
Only tyrannosaurs had D-shaped teeth at the front of their upper
jaws. These were good for scraping or pulling, while other teeth
could slice, tear, and crush.
Special hip features
Only tyrannosaurs had a ridge of bone at the top of their hips, to
which their strong leg muscles were attached.
Long hind legs
Tyrannosaurs had relatively long hind legs compared to other
theropod (two-legged, meat-eating) dinosaurs.
Features shared with other dinosaurs
Stood on two legs
All tyrannosaurs stood on two legs, but so did many other
dinosaurs.
Tail
All tyrannosaurs had tails, but so did every other dinosaur.
Small arms
Most tyrannosaurs had small arms, but so did many other
dinosaurs.
Ribs and torso
All tyrannosaurs had ribs, but so did every other dinosaur.
7 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Tyrannosaurs featured in the exhibition
Scientific name (genus and
species)
Time period
Time (millions
of years ago)
Body
length
Region
Proceratosaurus
Proceratosaurus bradleyi
Mid Jurassic
168–166
2–3 m
Europe
Kileskus
Kileskus aristotocus
Mid Jurassic
168–166
3m
Asia
Guanlong
Guanlong wucaii
Late Jurassic
163–158
4m
Asia
Aviatyrannus
Aviatyrannus jurassica
Late Jurassic
157–152
1m
Europe
Stokesosaurus
Stokesosaurus clevelandi
Late Jurassic
152–148
3–4 m
North
America
Juratyrant
langhami
Juratyrant langhami
Late Jurassic
152–148
4–5 m
Europe
Yutyrannus
Yutyrannus huali
131–120
9m
Asia
Dilong
Dilong paradoxus
138–129
1.6–2 m
Asia
Raptorex
Raptorex kriegsteini
131–113
3m
Asia
Xiongguanlong
Xiongguanlong baimoensis
113–100
4–5 m
Asia
Eotyrannus
Eotyrannus lengi
131–126
4m
Europe
Sinotyrannus
Sinotyrannus kazuoensis
121–119
9–10 m
Asia
Appalachiosaurus
Appalachiosaurus
montgomeriensis
Late Cretaceous
80–76
7–8 m
Daspletosaurus
Daspletosaurus torosus
Late Cretaceous
77–74
9m
Gorgosaurus
Gorgosaurus libratus
Late Cretaceous
76.5–75
8–9 m
Bistahieversor
Bistahieversor sealeyi
Late Cretaceous
76–72
9m
Teratophoneus
Teratophoneus curriei
Late Cretaceous
76–72
6m
Zhuchengtyrannus
Zhuchengtyrannus magnus
Late Cretaceous
80–76
10–12 m
Asia
Tarbosaurus
Tarbosaurus bataar
Late Cretaceous
72–68
10–12 m
Asia
Albertosaurus
Albertosaurus sarcophagus
Late Cretaceous
74–70
10 m
North
America
Alioramus
Alioramus altai
Late Cretaceous
72–66
6m
Asia
Dryptosaurus
Dryptosaurus aquilunguis
Late Cretaceous
72–66
6.5–7.5
m
Nanotyrannus
Nanotyrannus lancensis
Late Cretaceous
68–66
5–6 m
T. rex
Tyrannosaurus rex
Late Cretaceous
68–66
12.5 m
North
America
North
America
North
America
Common name
8 of 37
Early
Cretaceous
Early
Cretaceous
Early
Cretaceous
Early
Cretaceous
Early
Cretaceous
Early
Cretaceous
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
North
America
North
America
North
America
North
America
North
America
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Fossils
We know about dinosaurs from finding and examining their fossils.
What are fossils?
Fossils are the remains or traces of plants or animals preserved in rocks, soil, ice, or amber.
Fossilisation is the process by which fossils form. Fossilisation of a whole plant or animal is
very rare. Usually, only the hard parts of plants (such as seeds and wood) or animals (such
as bones and teeth) become fossilised.
What main types of fossil are there?
There are two main types of fossil:

imprints

mineralised fossils.
Imprints occur when animals or plants die and leave physical impressions of themselves
(such as footprints) in earth that is then covered by sediment. Over time, the sediment sets to
become rock, leaving the imprints long after the original material has disappeared. Raindrops
and ripples can also make impressions in mud and sand and become fossilised.
Mineralised fossils occur when animals or plants are encased in or absorb minerals from
the surrounding rock or underground water. These minerals replace the original material.
Examples of mineralised fossils include fossilised bones, shells, and wood (known as
petrified wood).

Opalised fossils occur when the specimen has been replaced by silica.

Limestone fossils result when calcium carbonate has replaced or filled porous gaps in the
specimen.
How do mineralised fossils form?
Most animals and plants that become fossilised either lived in water or were washed into it
after they died.
1. Their soft parts then rot away, leaving the woody parts, bones, teeth, or shell.
2. These hard parts become buried under layers of sediment, sand, mud, or lime, usually in
a lake, swamp, or cave.
9 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
3. The sand, mud, or lime covering the hard parts that haven’t rotted turns into sandstone,
shale, or limestone.
4. The layer encasing the fossil is compressed as more layers press down on it. Over
millions of years, it becomes rock.
5. During rock formation, all parts of the plants or animals are replaced by minerals.
6. The fossil-containing rocks are lifted up during movements of the Earth’s surface.
7. The rocks may be weathered by wind, rain, and sun.
8. The fossils may become exposed so that they can be seen.
9. The fossils may be dug out by a collector, palaeontologist – or someone like you!
How are fossils found?

By accident

By looking or fossicking in a likely area

By systematic searching with large digging equipment and explosives
How do you get fossils out of rocks?

By using chisels and hammers to chip the fossils out

By dissolving rocks in acid baths, leaving the bone imprints intact

By splitting the rocks open along their layers
How are fossils identified?

By comparing them with something that exists today

By comparing them with other fossils

By making educated guesses as to possible relatives of the fossilised specimen

By continually searching for new fossils of the same type to build knowledge about them
How are fossils dated?

By radiometric dating – a technique that measures the amount of a particular radioactive
element in the fossil.

By comparing fossils from one layer of rock with those from a nearby layer that have
already been dated by radiometric dating

By comparing fossils from one site with similar fossils from another site that have already
been dated by radiometric dating
What are fossils used for?

To find out about the plants and animals that lived a long time ago and are now extinct

To find out about the world’s environment a long time ago
10 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Class activities
To make the most of your visit, we recommend that you prepare your students with some of
the following activities. You can adjust the level to fit your particular students.
1. What are the characteristics of dinosaurs?
Provide your students with pictures or models of dinosaurs. We have included some images
at the back of this kit, and many more are available online from sites such as:
Science Kids:
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/pictures/dinosaurs.html
The Natural History Museum’s Dino Directory:
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/dinosaurs-other-extinct-creatures/dinodirectory/index.html
Have the students form groups, choose one dinosaur, and discuss the following questions.

Which dinosaur do you think this is? How do you know?

Have you seen one like this before? If so, where?

How do you think the dinosaur moved? Why do you say that?

Do you think it had senses like yours? Why or why not?

What features of the dinosaur suggest that it could taste, see, smell, and/or hear?

What might it have eaten? How do you think it found food? What makes you think that?

In what type of habitat might you have found the dinosaur?

How many years ago might it have lived?

Do you think it laid eggs? Cared for its young? Why?

How might the dinosaur have protected itself – with a bite, speed, or camouflage?
Do you think it hid? Tried to make itself look bigger? Why or why not?
11 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
2. What is a tyrannosaur?
Discuss the following as a class. (See the ‘Background information’ section on page 7 for
details.)

What is a tyrannosaur?

What features do you think made it different from other known dinosaurs?
Give your students the pictures of tyrannosaurs included at the back of this kit and print five
pictures of other dinosaurs from The Natural History Museum’s Dino Directory
(http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/dinosaurs-other-extinct-creatures/dinodirectory/index.html) . Ask them to:

discuss the differences between tyrannosaurs and other dinosaurs

find out where tyrannosaur fossils have been found and mark the locations on a world
map, to be displayed on the classroom wall

decorate the classroom with tyrannosaur drawings.
3. How big was a T. rex?
Use the Tyrannosaurus rex footprint outline and grid in the Activity Resources section of this
kit to draw a life-sized T. rex footprint on the ground in chalk. For a life-sized T. rex footprint,
recreate the image on a grid that has 10cmx10cm squares.
Now imagine how big T. rex must have been to leave such huge footprints!
4. What is geological time?
Use the cards in the Activity Resources section of this kit to gain some understanding of the
enormity of geological time.
5. Make a chocolate fossil
Use your hands, feet, or other objects (for example, shells) to make your own ‘fossils’.

Press the objects into modelling clay or plasticine to form the mould.

Fill the moulds with chocolate and let it set.
You could hide your fossils for others to find. The finders – ‘palaeontologists’ – could report
on their discoveries, including what the fossils might suggest about life in the past.
12 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
6. Build a dinosaur
Use recycled materials to make a 3-D model of a dinosaur, or a diorama featuring several
dinosaurs.
7. Story time
Choose two dinosaur names from this resource and create characters for them. Write a story
or poem featuring those characters.
8. Play time
Visit the iTunes store or Google Play and download the tyrannosaur app – developed by the
Australian Museum – and have fun with tyrannosaurs.
Activity resources
How big was a T. rex?
Use the graphic on the following page to complete activity 3 on page 12of this kit.
Reproduce the drawing on a grid that has 10cm x 10cm squares.
13 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
14 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
What is geological time
For activity 4 on page 12.
This activity will help demonstrate the enormity of geological time to your students. Print out
or photocopy the following pages and then head outside to a rugby field (or mark out 100m in
the school playground).
One try-line or the start of the 100m will be the start of geological time, 4.56 billion years ago.
The other try-line or the end of the 100m will be present day. Each page will name an event
in geological history, give a number of how man years ago it occurred, and tell you how far
along the rugby field or 100m it sits.
Give the cards to students in your class and have them stand in the appropriate place on the
field or 100m line. This will show your students the huge amount of time that has elapsed
since the earth was formed, and that dinosaurs and humans only take a very small amount of
that time.
15 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Formation of
the Earth
4.56 billion
years ago
0 metres
16 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Formation of
the moon
4.50 billion
years ago
1.3 metres
17 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
First celled
organisms
3.90 billion
years ago
14.5 metres
18 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Bacteria begin
producing
oxygen
3.0 billion
years ago
34.2 metres
19 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
First fungi
appear
560 million
years ago
87.70 metres
20 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
First jawed
fish appear
440 million
years ago
90.4 metres
21 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
First land
plants appear
434 million
years ago
90.48 metres
22 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
First reptiles
appear
305 million
years ago
93.3 metres
23 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
First dinosaurs
appear
252 million
years ago
95 metres
24 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
First mammals
appear
210 million
years ago
95.39 metres
25 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Dinosaurs
go extinct
66 million
years ago
98.5 metres
26 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
First human
ancestors
6.5 million
years ago
99.86 metres
27 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Modern
humans appear
200,000 years
ago
99.995 metres
(0.5 cm from present day)
28 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Present day
0 years ago
100 metres
29 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
What is a tyrannosaur?
The images on the following pages are all of tyrannosaurs. These are to help your students
with activity 2 on page 12. For images of other dinosaurs use The Natural History Museum’s
Dino Directory: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/dinosaurs-other-extinctcreatures/dino-directory/index.html
30 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Image by HIVE. Copyright: Australian Museum
Albertosaurus
31 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Image by HIVE. Copyright: Australian Museum
Guanlong
32 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Image by HIVE. Copyright: Australian Museum
Tarbosaurus
33 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Image by HIVE. Copyright: Australian Museum
Alioramus
34 of 37
Image by HIVE. Copyright: Australian Museum
Tyrannosaurus rex
35 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie
Image by HIVE. Copyright: Australian Museum
Yutyrannus
36 of 37
Image by HIVE. Copyright: Australian Museum
Dilong
37 of 37
© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Scott Ogilvie