My Notebook of Questions
Dinosaurs
Professor Genius
Why did dinosaurs disappear?
What did dinosaurs eat?
Do any dinosaurs still exist today?
QA INTERNATIONAL
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My Notebook of Questions
Dinosaurs
by Professor Genius
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Library and Archives
Canada Cataloguing in
Publication
Professor Genius
Dinosaurs
(My Notebook of Questio
ns)
Includes an index
For readers age 7 and
up
ISBN 978-2-7644-09077
Dinosaurs, My Notebook
of Questions was designe
d and produced by:
QA Kids
a division of
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Printed and bound in Singapore.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
10 09 08 07 06
The characters in Professor Genius’s universe are pure fantasy. Any resemblance to actual
living persons is entirely coincidental. Although the facts they contain are accurate, the
newspaper articles, old letters, books, and magazines drawn from the professor’s personal
collection are all products of the imaginations of the creators of this notebook.
Contents
When did dinosaurs appear?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
What did Earth look like during the dinosaur era? . . . . . . . 8
What other reptiles were living on Earth with the dinosaurs? . 12
How do scientists study dinosaurs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Do we know all the dinosaurs that ever lived? . . . . . . . . . 17
Why is Brontosaurus also called Apatosaurus? . . . . . . . . . . 20
What does a dinosaur eat? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Are dinosaurs classified in families? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
How did dinosaurs walk? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
What was the “bird beak” on dinosaurs used for?. . . . . . . . 34
Which dinosaur had the biggest teeth? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Is it true that dinosaurs swallowed stones?. . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Were there very little dinosaurs, too? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Were there herds of dinosaurs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Is it true that some dinosaurs had armor? . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1
How did herbivores defend themselves against carnivores? . . 54
What were the plates on the back of Stegosaurus used for? . . 56
What was the fastest dinosaur? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
What color were dinosaurs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1
Which dinosaur had the longest neck?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
What was the horn on the head of some dinosaurs used for? . 67
Did dinosaurs lay eggs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Is it true that Oviraptor stole the eggs of other dinosaurs? . . 74
Why did dinosaurs disappear, and when? . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Could dinosaurs reappear on Earth? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Do any dinosaurs still exist today? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Where should I look for dinosaur fossils? . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
When were the very first dinosaur fossils found? . . . . . . . 88
Where can I see complete dinosaur skeletons? . . . . . . . . . 9 1
To all those who open this notebook,
Have you ever been frightened by Tyrannosaurus’s
powerful jaws or impressed by Diplodocus’s towering
height? Ever since their discovery, dinosaurs have
fascinated and attracted us. I invite you to explore
the colorful, surprising, and sometimes even touching
world of these extinct creatures. When did dinosaurs
appear? What color were they? How did they
disappear? These are just some of the questions
that have been sent to me by curious young readers
like you. Over the years, I’ve collected so many
questions that I decided to answer them in this
notebook. To make it easier for you to understand
my explanations, I’ve pasted in some photos and
drawings, and drawn some simple diagrams.
I hope you enjoy your journey into
this faraway, fabulous world.
Happy reading!
Professor Genius
Deinonychus
Dear Professor Genius,
I went to visit the Museum of Natural
History with my class. The dinosaur
fossils were great! Our teacher,
Mrs. Ann Fibian, told us that these
giant reptiles lived a long, long time
ago. Can you tell me exactly when
dinosaurs appeared?
MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Quentin, age 9
My dear Quentin,
When I was your age, I spent my
summer holidays in Paris. My grandparents
lived right near the Museum of Natural
History.. I often went there on Saturday
afternoons to look at the dinosaur skeletons.
Just like you, I was fascinated by these
amazing prehistoric creatures. To get back
to your question, dinosaurs appeared about
230 million years ago. They were on Earth
for a little more than 164 million years. If
you know your arithmetic, this means that
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5
they disappeared about 66 million years
ago. (We humans have been on Earth “only”
about 5 million years!)
Our planet’s history goes back so far, and
it’s difficult for us to picture such long periods
of time. Scientists have found it interesting
to convert the history of Earth into a single
day.. Here is what happens: Earth forms at
the beginning of the day, at midnight.
22:07
00:00
First amphibians
(360 million years ago)
Earth appears
(4,600 million years ago)
21:31
First fish
(475 million years ago)
04:10
First bacteria
(3,800 million years ago)
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6
The first living cells appear around 4 A.M.
They look a lot like the bacteria we know
today.. Life continues to appear, mainly in the
oceans, until about 22 h 30. At 22 h 48,
the dinosaurs make their appearance. They
disappear 51 minutes later, at 23 h 39!
Human beings appear at 23 h 59, just one
minute before the end of the day!
Genius
22:49
First mammals
(225 million years ago)
23:12
22:48
First dinosaurs
(230 million years ago)
First birds
(150 million years ago)
22:21
23:59
First reptiles
(315 million years ago)
Humans appear
(5 million years ago)
7
Dear Mr. Genius,
t Earth
Can you tell me wha
e dinosaurs
looked like when th
were around?
Thank you.
Latifa, age 10
Good question, Latifa. Earth at the time
of the dinosaurs was nothing like the
planet we know today! The dinosaurs
lived during an era that scientists call the
Mesozoic. This era can be divided into three
shorter periods: the Triassic, the Jurassic,
and the Cretaceous. Allow me to present
each one briefly..
Ginkgo leaves
8
When the dinosaurs appeared,
during the TRIASSIC, there
was only one gigantic continent,
called Pangaea. The climate was
hot and humid. Giant ferns,
conifers’ ancestors, ginkgos,
and horsetails, grew near the
coasts. The land in the middle
of the continent was desert.
Reptiles ruled the Triassic period,
you know! They were
everywhere—in the air,
in the water, and on land,
where they lived alongside
small mammals.
Horsetail
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9
Birds first appeared in the skies
during the JURASSIC. Pangaea
began to separate into several pieces
that eventually become the continents
we know today.. The climate was still
hot and humid, and there were many
coniferous forests.
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During the CRETACEOUS, the
continents continued to move farther
apart. Flowering plants, such as
rosebushes, and leafy trees, like oaks
and maples, appeared during this
period. Pollinating insects—bees, wasps,
and butterflies—also appeared, and
carried pollen from flower to flower.
The dinosaurs disappeared at the end
of the Cretaceous, leaving room for
many other kinds of animals!
Professor Genius
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11
Dear Professor,
What other reptiles were living on Earth
when the dinosaurs arrived?
Gregory, age 9
Hello Gregory,
As I wrote to Latifa, the Triassic, the
period in which the dinosaurs appeared,
was the golden age of reptiles! There were
several important groups of primitive,
or ancient, reptiles. Saurosuchus weighed
2 tons and ate just about every other
kind of animal. Euparkeria, a very thinbodied reptile, looked a little like today’s
crocodile. Lystrosaurus was an odd-looking
herbivore, or plant eater. It had two large
teeth, and a beak for cutting and tearing
leaves. Other reptiles, like
Saurosuchus
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12
the pterosaur, leaped
from treetops and sailed
Pterosaur
through the air on
wing-like flaps of
skin. Reptilians also
lived in the oceans.
The ichthyosaur, for example, looked like a
dolphin, but measured up to 48 feet (15 m)
in length! So as you can see, Gregory, the
dinosaurs would have met up with all these
different animals. It didn’t take much time,
however, for the dinosaurs to increase their
numbers and take over the planet!
Best regards,
Genius
Shonisaurus
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13
Dear Mr. Genius,
?
How do scientists study dinosaurs
Thank you.
Ming, age 10
Dear Ming,
The scientists you are talking
about are called paleontologists.
They study dinosaurs the same
way detectives investigate a case.
The clues they look for are called
fossils. Do you know that fossils
are the remains of living things
from the past? Dinosaur fossils
usually consist of bones, teeth,
droppings, or footprints. To find
fossils, paleontologists search in
mountains and along riverbanks
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for an area that contains sedimentary rock.
This rock is made up of leftover bits from
other rocks and the remains of plants and
animals that have piled up over the years.
Sedimentary rock often contains fossils.
Sometimes a fossil is only partly buried in
the ground or may come loose from the rock
that surrounds it. All the paleontologist has
to do is bend down to pick it up! At other
times, a fossil may be wedged into a rock.
The paleontologist then uses a hammer to
break the rock and a brush to gently dust off
the fossil. There is one more important thing
for our “detective” to find out: the fossil’s age.
There are several ways to do this. One method
is to figure out the age of the rock itself.
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15
Pick
Ruler
Notebook
In general, rocks that lie
deeper in the ground are older
than rocks that lie closer to the
surface. When paleontologists find
fossils in the ground, all they need
to know is how old the ground is.
That will tell them how old the fossil is.
Paleontologists are keen and very patient
scientists. An American team has
already spent eight years uncovering a
dinosaur skeleton! Who knows? Maybe
one day, Ming, you too will help dig
Brush
out a dinosaur!
Take care,
Genius
Gloves
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Hello Professor Genius,
Do we know all the dinosaurs that
ever
lived on Earth?
Thanks.
Thomas, age 7
Hello Thomas,
Up until now, discoveries by paleontologists
have made it possible to identify almost
800 species of dinosaur. But some
specialists think that there could have
been 500,000 species of dinosaur—that’s
600 times more than what has been
discovered to date! Did you know, Thomas,
that scientists describe a new species
based on the fossils they have found?
Like a complete or partial skeleton, or
even just a bone or a tooth! You should
also know that the formation of fossils
is quite rare. For an animal to fossilize,
it must be buried quickly after it dies.
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It might be covered in mud, fine sand,
or volcanic ash. Let’s imagine a small
dinosaur that has been wounded after a
terrible fight. It manages to escape and
heads for a lake in search of refreshment.
Unfortunately, its wounds are serious and
it dies shortly afterward. Its body is
quickly buried by the mud and decomposes
at the bottom of the lake. Take a look
at the illustrations in my Atlas of Earth.
1. The mollusk settles
at the lake or sea
bottom. Its shell,
which is very hard,
is preserved.
2. The shell is covered
in fine sand and pebbles
that are transformed into
sedimentary rock. The shell
is trapped in this rock.
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Photo credits
p. 8: Universitat de les Illes Balears / p. 39: Roger Weller / p. 42: Matthew Hayward /
p. 73: John Adamek, EDCOPE Enterprises / p. 83: Keijo Karvonen /
p. 85: Dave Dyet
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My Notebook of Questions
Dinosaurs
Professor Genius
WHAT COLOR WERE DINOSAURS?
HOW DID THEY LIVE?
WHICH HAD THE BIGGEST TEETH?
Dinosaurs are a fascinating subject. They may
be extinct, but they live on in our imagination.
Young or old, we still have plenty of
questions about these
fascinating animals.
In this notebook,
Professor Genius has
collected the questions
children most often ask him
about dinosaurs. The friendly and
well-informed pr ofessor answers them
clearly and accurately, rounding out his
explanations with notes, drawings, and
personal observations.
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