Overview
If you could be any dinosaur, flying reptile, or marine reptile in the world what would you be and why? What features do you feel were most important for dinosaurs to adapt and be successful? (6pts) For full credit please respond to two students (4pts)
respond needed for these two:
1-I would want to be a vilociraptor. I loved them in Jurassic Park, even though they did not look the way they were depicted in that movie - still was amazing….but that’s not really why. I think that their quickness would be helpful living along other predators. They could run up to 50 mph and is one of the fastest runners. I also think it’s interesting that they had feathers, which maybe they used for camouflage or holding onto heat or something since smaller animals lose heat faster than larger ones. I also think it’s a huge advantage to be small. Velociraptors were about the size of turkeys. So not too small like the Troodon, but not as big as the sauropods. The turkey size means that maybe they could have gone under rock overhangs for shelter, or could have found places to hide better than some larger dinosaurs could.
I think to be successful, dinosaurs needed to be able to adapt. I think speed could help them to survive by being able to run away. It also would help to be huge, even though I did not choose a big dinosaur. The size itself cold be a good deterrent from others that want to eat you. The issue with size is that it could make you slow….and that would not be helpful when you needed to get out of situation.
2-If I could be any dinosaur, I would want to be a Spinosaurus aegyptiacus… for lots of reasons. Spinosaurus was one of the largest theropods—if not the largest—to ever walk the Earth, and it remains an incredibly interesting and mysterious dinosaurs we know of to this day. It’s only gained popularity since its discovery nearly a century ago, and popular portrayals in dinosaur media (namely, Jurassic Park III) have brought it notoriety as one of the most fascinating theropods in prehistoric history. Still, we have so many unanswered questions about the animal: from what it ate, to where it lived, to what its trademark spines were for. So… I guess being a Spinosaurus would be a fun way to get the answers to those questions!