Blog 18: Answer 2

The skull depicted above is that of a young Triceratops. What the shape of this skull showed Dr. John Horner, the paleontologist that discovered skulls like it, was that the dinosaur Triceratops went through different skull shapes as it grew older. 

1.  What is your EQ?

- How can a paleontologist best reconstruct the life of a prehistoric creature?

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

- Analysis of the context in which a fossil is found can reveal a significant amount of information about its life.

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

- The physical structure of a fossil can allow a paleontologist to gather much information about an ancient creature's life.

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

1. The actual size of a fossil can give a paleontologist an idea of what an organism's size and shape were like when it was alive. An example of this is how for my second independent component I'm searching through the internet for measurements of Allosaurus fragilis so that I can accurately depict its size and shape.
2. Some fossils have signs of what is called paleopathology where there are bumps or structures on the bone that indicate illness or injuries. One of the experiences I had at mentorship with my mentor, Dr. Eric Scott, was the pathological timber wolf femur that he showed us, which told us that the timber wolf had its leg torn off.
3. Sometimes fossils can have signs of predation and the marks that leaves behind can be found. An example of this comes from one of the sources that I cited in my working bibliography about a documentary about a debate between paleontologists about whether or not Tyrannosaurus rex was a predator or scavenger. Paleontologists that were for the idea of T. Rex being a predator found a skeleton of a plant-eater that had a tooth mark of a Tyrannosaurus.

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

- The best printed source I have that supports my answer is the study that my mentor wrote about the pathological timber wolf femur.

6.  What other source supports your answer?

- Another source that supports my answer is the documentary where Dr. John Horner uses Triceratops frills to show that there was ontogeny (physical progression from childhood to adulthood) in the fossil record.

7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.

- The physical structure of a fossil can tell a paleontologist very vital information about an ancient creature's life and it can provide ample evidence that can be used to infer information about appearance, anatomy, etc.