Brooklyn College
City University of New York
FIELD TRIP GUIDE APPENDIX Page 6

This appendix is intended to help guide you through the rest of the Museum's dinosaur displays, in the event that you decide not to stop with Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus. The Appendix focuses on dinosaurs that will be discussed in lecture.

HALL OF SAURISCHIAN DINOSAURS:
   There is more in the Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs that you might want to look at, particularly Apatosaurus, across the aisle fromTyrannosaurus, and Dilophosaurus, against the left wall, past T.'s tail. In each case, carefully read the explanatory signs associated with each specimen. For Apatosaurus examine the pelvis, and notice its triangular shape when seen from the side. Look at the neck vertebrae, and note how open and lightly built they are.

HALL OF ORNITHISCHIAN DINOSAURS:
  Proceed to the Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs (use the map of the 4th floor if necessary). Of the many dinosaurs displayed here, the following are particularly relevant to the course.

1.  DINOSAUR "MUMMY":  This is a duckbill dinosaur which shows skin impressions. Such preservation is extremely rare. Look closely at the texture of the skin, are the structures that you see most likely impressions of fur, scales, or feathers? Does the skin of this dinosaur most resemble that of a modern mammal, reptile, or bird?

2.  PROTOCERATOPS:  Examine the eggs and nest of Protoceratops. Are the eggs arranged in any particular pattern within the nest. If so, what is the pattern (make a sketch)?

3.  ANATOTITAN, TRICERATOPS, CORYTHOSAURUS:  Examine the skull of at least one of these three dinosaurs. Look particularly at the teeth. Within a single specimen, are the teeth all the same shape, or do they differ? Do these dinosaurs have teeth from front to back along the jaws, like humans do, or are the teeth restricted to part of the jaw? If so, which part?

4.  TRICERATOPS:  Examine the horns on the skull of Triceratops. What modern animal has a similar arrangement of horns on its head? What might the function of the horns of Triceratops have been?

5.  CORYTHOSAURUS: PARASAUROLOPHUS:  Examine the skulls of these two duckbill dinosaurs. What might the function of the unusual bony crests at the top of the skulls have been?

6.  CORYTHOSAURUS:  Examine the spinal column of this dinosaur. Notice the crossed tubular tendons arrayed along the vertebrae. What familiar Brooklyn landmark does this arrangement of support elements resemble? What might the function of these unusual spinal tendons thus have been?

7.  CENTROSAURUS; TRICERATOPS; CHASMOSAURUS; STYRACOSAURUS:    Examine the unusual bony neck frill in these dinosaurs, a feature which is characteristic of all ceratopsian dinosaurs. Are the neck frills similarly shaped in each species or are they different? What might have been the function of ceratopsian neck frills?