Dinosaur Glossary A - C
A - C | D - G | H - M
| N - Q | R - Z
A
Age
A unit of geological time. Example: Ice Age.
Amber
A translucent or opaque yellow, fossil resin from coniferous trees.
Ankylosaurs
A group of dinosaurs that lived from the mid-Jurassic to the late Cretaceous periods.
Ankylosaurs were herbivorous, ornithischian and had armored plates on their bodies for protection.
Some ankylosaurs had tail clubs (euoplocephalus) and some did not (nodosaurids).
Asteroid
A small rocky body that orbits a star. Over 100,000 asteroids orbit
the sun.
Atom
The smallest particle of an element. Everything is made up of tiny
atoms.
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B
Badlands
An elevated area, with eroded gullies and valleys with very little
rainfall. These areas were named Badlands because they are of no use
for anything. A great place to locate fossils.
Biped
Any creature that walks on two legs.
Bones
A hard tissue that forms most of the skeleton of animal and humans.
Bones fossilize well .
C
The Cambrian Period
The earliest geological period of the Paleozoic era. It began about
590 million years ago and lasted 70 million years.
Carnivore
An animal that eats other animals. (meat-eater)
Ceratopsians
A group of dinosaurs that lived in the Cretaceous period, ceratopsians
were herbivorous, ornithischian, and had beaks and bony head frills.
The triceratops is part of the ceratopsian family.
Chalk
A sedimentary rock that is a pure-white fine grained variety of
limestone.
Chisel
A metal tool which can be used to chip away at the rock containing
fossils.
Class
A group of related or similar organisms.
Coal
A carbonized matter used as fuel, an ember.
Cold blooded
Animals rely upon the temperature to regulate their body temperature.
Many reptiles are cold blooded and many dinosaurs may have been
cold-blooded.
Comet
A comet is made up of ice and dust surrounded by a cloud of gas and
dust. The tail of the comet appears when it is near the sun. The most
famous comet is Halleys Comet.
Crater
A bowl-like shaped cavity or pit created by an asteroid or meteorite
colliding with the Earth.
Cretaceous period
A geological period of the Mesozoic Era, between about 135 and 65
million years ago. The Cretaceous period marks the end of the
dinosaurs and many other species of animals and plants.
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Dinosaur Digs
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