Target: find the answer to the question: "Where did dinosaurs live?"

Tasks:

• Select and study literature on the topic.
• See how this topic is covered on the Internet.
• Talk to adults.
• Conduct a classmate survey.
• Visit the Regional Museum.

Research plan.

• Why I chose this topic.
• Poll of classmates.
• What did dinosaurs look like?
• Where are dinosaur fossils found?
• Conclusion based on the results of the study.

I was given a book about dinosaurs for my birthday. I really liked her. I couldn't read very well back then. I enjoyed flipping through this book and looking at
illustrations. I memorized the name of each dinosaur. My younger brother Gosha came up to me and asked: “Where did the dinosaurs live?”
At the time, I didn't know the answer to that question. I myself became interested, but where did the dinosaurs live?
I already learned from books that dinosaurs were herbivores and carnivores. At first I assumed that dinosaurs lived in tropical forests, because there is a lot of greenery that herbivores ate, and predators ate herbivores.
But I decided to check if my assumption is correct. To do this, I talked with my parents, studied the books that I have at home, went to the library, looked at how this topic was covered on the Internet, went to the dinosaur exhibition at the Vyatka Museum of Local Lore, and did a survey of classmates.

To the question: "Where did dinosaurs live?" classmates gave the following answers:

• Dinosaurs lived in Africa, because they are warm animals.
• They lived in the forests, because It's humid and green there.
• There were a lot of them, so they inhabited the entire Earth.
• Their body was not covered with wool, so they lived in warm regions.
• Dinosaurs lived in the Kirov region, because. their remains are found here...

As you can see, there are a lot of assumptions. And which of them is right?

As a result of the research, I learned a lot of interesting things about dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs are the most mysterious reptiles that lived on Earth. They reigned on
the planet is almost 150 million years old. The remains of dinosaurs are found on all continents.
Like modern reptiles, dinosaur skin had scales and eggs had shells. Some dinosaurs were the size of a chicken, others the size of a modern airplane.

The smallest dinosaur was found in North America.
The dinosaur weighed less than 1 kg, and reached a length of 70 cm.

Most big dinosaur was found in 2007 in Argentina. He was a herbivore 32 meters (about the size of a 9-storey building). Its weight was 70-80 tons.

About 225 million years ago, in the late Triassic period, when dinosaurs first appeared on the planet, the world looked completely different than it does today. Initially, there was only one huge continent on Earth, which scientists call Pangea, which means "the whole Earth." Pangea was surrounded on all sides by an ocean called Pantallas.

After many millions of years, this supercontinent split into two main parts, which modern science calls Laurasia and Gondwana.

By the onset of the late Jurassic period (about 145 million years ago), many new types of dinosaurs arose in the process of evolution.

It was not until the Late Cretaceous that the continents formed and began to drift towards the position they are in today.

The remains of dinosaurs of the same species can sometimes be found in very remote parts of the world. This happens because at different stages
stories the globe, when the continents had not yet separated, dinosaurs could migrate over vast distances.

Land bridges could also remain between the continents, thanks to which dinosaurs moved from one continent to another - for example, from Asia to North America or in the opposite direction.

But some types of dinosaurs that lived in later times are only discovered in certain parts of the world.

No doubt it's happening because they've been cut off deep seas from other land masses and could not move from one continent to another.

Not so long ago, scientists discovered a piece of land with an area of ​​more than a hectare, covered with thousands of dinosaur footprints. It is assumed that this place served as a watering place for animals about 190 million years ago. A unique find was made on the territory of the American national reserve Vermilion Cliffs in Arizona.

Black Canyon in Colorado. In this place, many fossil skeletons of dinosaurs are found that roamed here millions of years ago.

The same types of dinosaurs could be found in very remote parts of the world. For example, a huge herbivore iguanodon was found both in England and on the territory of the mainland of modern Europe.

The city of Kotelnich, located 120 km from the regional center, is known in Russia and in a number of foreign countries due to the location of ancient fossils located in its vicinity - pareiosaurs. These large lizards up to 3 meters long lived in Europe, South Africa, Asia 250-260 million years ago.

Employees of the Vyatka Paleontological Museum made a unique discovery - for the first time on the Fileya outcrop of the city of Kirov, the remains of a dinosaur were found that lived here more than 200 million years ago. During recent excavations, museum staff found about 50 bones of a pareiasaurus - these are ribs, collarbone, phalanges,
skin ossifications. During the examination, it was possible to find out that all the remains belong to one individual. Now there is one more locality of Permian reptiles on the territory of the region. Excavations here will continue in the future.

Brachiosaurus - one of the largest and heaviest dinosaurs (up to 23 m in length, weight - 50 tons) was discovered in 1900 in the USA.

And the most complete skeleton of a brachiosaurus found to date was found in Tanzania (Africa), which indicates that the brachiosaurus lived here as well. Now scientists know that he lived in Europe.

For the first time remains ceratosaurus were discovered in 1883 in Colorado.

It has now been established that the habitat of ceratosaurus-like lizards was Tanzania (Central Africa), as well as the western part of North America.

carnivorous lizard baryonix opened in England in 1983. Similar remains found in West Africa indicate that Baryonyx could have lived in this part of the world and in continental Europe at a time when all these parts of the land were one.

Such ferocious predators, how allosaurus, usually associated with North America (the first skeleton was found in 1883 in Utah), lived in Australia.

Thus it turned out that dinosaurs were found everywhere.

Giant nests and giant dinosaur bones have been found in the Asian Gobi Desert. Scientists managed to find a fossilized dinosaur egg, shaped like a potato, from which the dinosaur “chicken” almost hatched.

Even in Antarctica, the remains of both carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaurs have been found. How did it happen? But it turns out that Antarctica was not always a frozen continent. Antarctica was once part of a supercontinent gondwana. The climate there resembled rather the climate of modern Great Britain. So, perhaps, paleontologists were not particularly surprised to find dinosaur bones in Antarctica. Scientists managed to find the remains of two previously unknown species of dinosaurs that roamed the continent even when it had forests and rivers. The creatures were found in December at a distance of 3000 km from each other.

The first was an agile bipedal carnivore 2-2.5 meters tall, tearing prey with curved, serrated fangs.

The second find is an 11-meter herbivorous dinosaur that fed on grasses on the banks of ancient rivers. This is the ancestor of long-necked and long-tailed sauropods, from the heavy tread of which the earth shook. It is the largest dinosaur ever found in Antarctica.

Thus, my assumption that dinosaurs lived in tropical forests was not confirmed. As a result of the study, I found out that millions of years ago dinosaurs inhabited all parts of the world, because. Dinosaur fossils have been found on every continent, including North America and Antarctica.

This is not the end of my research. I want to know everything about these wonderful animals. The topic of my next research will be: "Why did the dinosaurs become extinct?"

Bibliography:

• Dinosaurs [text]: an encyclopedia for children. – M.: Egmont, 2000
• Dinosaurs. Complete encyclopedia. [ Text]. - M., Esmo, 2003
• Traveling around the world [ electronic resource]/ – access mode: http://koloson.ru/gde-zhili-dinozavry/
• Vyatka dinosaurs - Point of view - Privolzhsky federal district[electronic resource]/ – access mode: Interfax – Russia.ru
• Illustrations of dinosaurs are taken from the Internet.
  • http://www.dinozavr.com/ – vernis.com/muzei.html
.

See maps: http://www.aif.ru/dontknows/infographics/1471104

Dinosaurs (from the Greek dinosauria, deinos - "terrible" and saurus - "lizard") lived in the Mesozoic era, which is divided into three periods: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. In the entire history of studying the remains of ancient lizards, paleontologists have managed to identify and describe over 500 various kinds these reptiles.

When did the first dinosaurs appear?

The first dinosaurs, the archosaurs, appeared 230 million years ago. Typical representatives Triassic period were Placerias, Plateosaurus, Coelophysis, Cynodont, and Peteinosaurus.

During jurassic when it was established on Earth temperate climate, flying lizards appeared (Archeopteryx, Pterodactyl, Pterosaurus), as well as carnivorous dinosaurs large sizes(stegosaurus, diplodocus, anurognathus, allosaurus, ankylosaurus and others). The remains of some of them paleontologists found in the Saratov region.

During the last period mesozoic era giant lizards lived on Earth, many of them reached 5-8 meters in height and 20 meters in length. typical reptiles Cretaceous: velociraptor, seismosaurus, tyrannosaurus, iguanodon and culazuch.

How many years did dinosaurs live?

Paleontologists believe that the lifespan of small species ranged from one to two decades, and large dinosaurs could live from 200 to 300 years.

Who inhabited Tula region 300 million years ago, see infographic>>

Related article

Prehistoric animals that lived in the Kuban. infographics

Studying the structure of the skeleton of dinosaurs, scientists divided them into two groups: lizards had a pelvis, like modern lizards, among these dinosaurs were both herbivores and carnivores; ornithischian dinosaurs had a pelvis similar to that of modern birds, and only herbivores are known among them.

The earth existed for several billion years before the first dinosaurs appeared on it. And yet it was a very long time ago - about 225 million years. The continents were not yet divided and were one. The ancestors of dinosaurs are archosaurs, which outwardly were very similar to modern crocodiles. Dinosaurs had especially strong hind legs and a long tail. In total, dinosaurs lived on Earth for about 160 million years and died out 65 million years, at the end of the Cretaceous period.

Life in the Earth

Scientists believe that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, but the first forms of life began to appear 3 billion years ago.

origin of name

The name "dinosaur" comes from Greek words deinos - "terrible" and sauro - "lizard".

Archosaurs and Crocodiles

Crocodiles are the only animals from the group of archosaurs that have survived. But in them, unlike the archosaurs known to us, the nostrils are located at the edges of the muzzle, and not at the eyes.

Dinosaurs and reptiles

Dinosaurs differed from other reptiles in the position of their hind limbs - not on the side, like in crocodiles and lizards (therefore, they have a "wobbly gait"), but directly under the body: this allowed them to walk and run in an upright position.

earth history

The history of the Earth is divided by scientists into eras and periods.

• AT Paleozoic era many living organisms appeared.
• The Mesozoic era is the time of the rise and extinction of the dinosaurs. It is divided into three periods: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.
• AT Cenozoic era human evolution took place.

Everyone loved dinosaurs as a child, and almost everyone just adored Jurassic Park. But not many people know that almost everything that tells us about dinosaurs Mass culture- not true. In this collection of the most popular misconceptions about dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs were the largest creatures ever to have lived on earth.

First, not all dinosaurs were big. Of course, some of them reached quite serious sizes. But these were isolated species. In addition to them, there were many less impressive dinosaurs, the size of a sheep, dog or chicken, for example. The smallest of known to science dinosaurs weighed about 200 grams. Secondly: you will be surprised, but the largest animal that has ever existed on Earth is our contemporary with you - this is the blue whale. So if you were upset that you could never see a live megaladon, you have every chance of seeing a much larger giant alive.

This myth stems from the fact that the climate used to be much warmer than it is now. And based on this, some seriously believe that almost all the land was then covered with thick rainforests. In reality, of course, this is not the case. During the existence of dinosaurs, however, as now, there were already deserts, and plains, and ordinary forests, and jungles on Earth, of course. Moreover, over the millions of years that dinosaurs walked on our planet, the landscape, like the climate, has constantly changed. And dinosaurs successfully mastered the entire spectrum of ecosystems.

Dinosaurs were dumb creatures with tiny brains.

To judge the intelligence of creatures that lived 100 million years ago, of which only petrified remains have survived, is an extremely thankless task. The only thing we can know more or less exactly is the size of their brains. And, of course, it was different for all dinosaurs, both in absolute value and relative to body size. The same Stegosaurus, often ridiculed for its tiny brain, actually had a brain the size of a walnut and weighing about 70 grams. On the other hand, our favorite four-legged friends, dogs, have brains that are about the same size. But dogs weigh a maximum of 100 kilograms, which is 20 times less than a stegosaurus weighed. But the brain of a tyrannosaurus rex, for example, was three times larger than the brain of a dolphin. But in terms of body size, it roughly corresponds to the brain of modern reptiles.

The Jurassic period is the "golden age" of the dinosaurs.

Well, first of all: the greatest diversification of dinosaur varieties, according to statistical research, was not in the Jurassic, but in the late Cretaceous period. And secondly: even this apparent diversity is nothing more than an illusion, since it is precisely the rocks of the Late Cretaceous period that have been studied to a greater extent today than the rocks of other periods of the Mesozoic era. So while with full certainty it is impossible to say when there were more dinosaurs.

Tyrannosaurus Rex is the largest carnivore ever to walk the earth.

Once again, a myth to which we are entirely indebted to popular culture. The Tyrannosaurus rex has become so often mentioned that it has practically become the personification of the brand in general for all dinosaurs. It’s just that with the word “dinosaur”, most will imagine either a tyrannosaurus rex or a triceratops in their head. So it is precisely the tyrannosaurus rex that is often called the largest and most dangerous of all terrestrial predators known to science. We will return to its danger, but for now let's talk about size. Today it is already absolutely certain that the tyrannosaurus was not the largest land predator in history. The largest skeleton found is 12.3 meters long. While the spinosaurus reached 16 meters in length. But these two giants have never met, since the tyrannosaurus rex is “younger” than its competitor by more than 30 million years. And, of course, that all these years, evolution has not stood still, therefore, in many respects, the tyrannosaurus looks like a much more advanced "killing machine" than its more ancient counterpart.

Dinosaurs were a dead end branch of evolution

The fact that they did not build cities and did not arrange wars for resources does not mean that they were a dead end branch of evolution. Dinosaurs were perfectly integrated into the then environment. They were the dominant species on the planet and, in fact, masters not only of the earth, but also of the air and the sea. Although objectively speaking, neither marine reptiles nor flying pangolins can be called dinosaurs, but still, they were much more related than us and dolphins, for example. And yet. Humans have been evolving for only two million years and have already come close to global crises and the threat of total destruction of themselves. While the dinosaurs evolved perfectly well for 135 million years, and if it were not for global cataclysms independent of them, they might have continued to live to this day.

In the time when dinosaurs lived, all mammals were the size of a mouse.

No, even then there were much larger representatives of the order of mammals. Here, however, it is worth immediately making a reservation: depending on what to consider large size. Of course, if we talk about the size of a mammoth, then, of course, there were no such mammals at the time of the dinosaurs. Generally, the average size mammals then did not exceed the size modern cat. However, even then, namely about 125-122 million years ago, there were already such mammals as repenomas, for example. It was about 1 meter long, weighed 12-14 kg, and judging by the remains found, it even ate some small dinosaurs.

All dinosaurs lived only in the equatorial region of the earth, and the finds of their remains in temperate latitudes explained by the movement of the continents

And again no. Yes, over the millions of years of the existence of dinosaurs, not only the climate changed, but also the landscape of the earth. But many modern finds prove that dinosaurs even lived in Antarctica. In fairness, it should be noted that in those days Australia and New Zealand were connected to Antarctica, forming one polar continent. The climate in those days, of course, was much warmer than today, but the dinosaurs who lived there still had to adapt to harsh conditions. weather conditions. In summer, the sun shone on this continent around the clock, and polar night reigned for five months of the year. It is possible that predators and herbivorous dinosaurs were in these areas in summer, and in winter they migrated to warmer regions to the north.

Dinosaurs died out as a result of a meteorite fall

Contrary to the assurances of many people that this is exactly what happened, this is just one version of what happened. Scientific disputes on the topic of what caused the death of dinosaurs, whether their extinction was sudden or gradual, continue to this day; there is no single point of view. It is known for certain that the extinction of the dinosaurs was only part of the so-called "great extinction" that took place at the same time. Died out with the dinosaurs marine reptiles, flying lizards, many shellfish and a huge amount of small algae. In total, 16% of families of marine animals and 18% of families of land vertebrates died. According to one of the widespread theories, the death of dinosaurs could have occurred due to relatively close to ours. solar system supernova explosion. Such an event could unleash a deadly shower of gamma rays on Earth, and ejected by the explosion x-rays could sweep away a part earth's atmosphere, forming a hot layer at a height of 20-80 km above the surface of the planet.

Velociraptors could reach speeds of up to 100 km/h
In general, the real image of the Velociraptor, which scientists managed to reconstruct, is extremely far from what was shown to us in the Jurassic Park franchise. This is largely due to the fact that when working on the film, the basis was the reconstruction of another dinosaur - Deinonychus, which was previously classified as a genus of Velociraptors. But even the Deinonychus in the film are doubled in size compared to theirs. real size. As for real velociraptors, they were evolutionarily closer to birds, had plumage, were warm-blooded animals, reached a height of 60-70 cm and weighed about 20 kg. AT this moment there is no scientific evidence to think that velociraptors were able to run very fast, hunted in packs (all their remains found are separate individuals), and even more so, they had some kind of super-developed intellect. All this is nothing more than a fantasy.