By Helen and Mark Warner

www.teachingpacks.co.uk
© Teaching Packs - Dinosaurs - Page 1
Image © ThinkStock
 Millions of years ago people did not exist and the world was instead
In this section, inhabited by dinosaurs. These
you will learn
about... creatures were prehistoric reptiles
that lived on Earth for over 160 million
The Diamantinasaurus
1. When the years. The term ‘dinosaur’ only refers lived in Australia about
dinosaurs were 94 million years ago.

alive. to certain species of large prehistoric

reptiles that lived on the land during
2. Why dinosaurs did
this time. Creatures such as
not fly in the skies
or live in the pterosaurs (which flew in the skies)
oceans. and plesiosaurs (which Did you know?
The word dinosaur
lived in the oceans) were means ‘terrible lizard’.
3. What dinosaurs
not dinosaurs. Scientists It comes from the
looked like and Greek language and
what they ate. now believe that these was first used by
English paleontologist
species were reptiles. Richard Owen in 1842.

© Teaching Packs - Dinosaurs - Page 4

 Body Shapes
Diet is not the only way that paleontologists classify dinosaurs. The creatures can be
broken down into groups based on their shape and common physical features.
Did you know? Ankylosaurids
The biggest dinosaur was This group of dinosaurs
thought to be a sauropod were medium-sized
called Amphicoelias. It
might have been up to herbivores. They were
sixty metres long! heavily armoured with a row of
large plates on their back, which
some paleontologists believe changed
A Brachiosaurus. colour to act as a further deterrent from
carnivorous dinosaurs. They also had
clubbed tails to offer further protection,
and spikes. Ankylosaurids had toothless beaks. An Ankylosaurus.

Sauropods Ceratopsians
A Triceratops.
This group of dinosaurs were very Ceratopsians were medium-sized
large herbivores who walked on four herbivores. They walked on four
legs. They had long necks and tails legs and protected themselves
and a relatively small head in from predators with long horns
proportion to their body. Their legs and a horned frill at the back of their
were thick and strong in order to necks. They had beaks and
support the weight of their bodies. shearing teeth that were used to
These dinosaurs could not move tear at vegetation and grind their
very fast. Species include food up. Species include
Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus. Triceratops and Styracosaurus.
© Teaching Packs - Dinosaurs - Page 14
 The Cretaceous Period was between 145 and 66
In this section, million years ago. It was a period of great diversity
you will learn
about... and saw a wider range of mammals and dinosaurs
living on Earth than before. Large heavily armoured
1. Life in the oceans dinosaurs such as Triceratops and Ankylosaurus
during the
Cretaceous browsed leafy vegetation.
period. The mighty
Tyrannosaurus rex
2. The life of a
Pteranodon. also appeared during this period.
Did you know?
3. Herbivores, The climate and environment during the Cretaceous period
omnivores and was warm and humid. This led to the appearance of flowering
plants for the first time, causing the population and diversity
carnivores that of insects to increase. The warm, humid weather led to a rise
lived at this time. in sea levels which caused the two large continents from the
Jurassic period (Laurasia and Gondwana) to separate further
into the continents we know and recognise today.

© Teaching Packs - Dinosaurs - Page 31

A Tyrannosaurus rex.
1. Finding The Discovery of Fossils
When people are trying to find the
fossilised remains of dinosaurs,
they usually travel to deserts. This 2. Recording
is because these places are If any fossilised remains are found, these
exposed and there are no plants to are usually measured and drawn before
cover the ground and hide what is digging begins.
underneath. These scientists are
trained to recognise rocks that
were formed millions of years ago
and how to identify bits of fossilised
bones amongst the rocks.
An illustration of
a group of
archaeologists
discovering a
dinosaur fossil.

4. Preserving and protecting

3. Uncovering Once the fossil has been fully
To uncover the fossil further, workers use hammers and shovels uncovered, scientists use a
to break open rocks. Once scientists are close to the fossils, special type of plaster to cover
they have to be a lot more careful in case they damage the fossil before it is lifted out
anything. Small tools are used to chip away at the rock and of the ground. The plaster is
expose the fossil slowly and carefully. This can take a long time, used to protect the fossil until
especially if it is a skeleton of a large dinosaur! the scientists can look at it
more closely in a laboratory.
© Teaching Packs - Dinosaurs - Page 46
 Atmosphere Coprolite
The gases that surround the planet. A piece of fossilised dung (poo).

Bacteria Crest
A microscopic living organism that is usually only A tuft of fur, feathers or skin on top of an animal’s
one cell. head.
Adapt
Changing and becoming adjusted to new conditions.
Big Bang Cretaceous
A scientific theory into how the planets were formed. The time between the Jurassic and Tertiary Periods.
Algae
A type of non-flowering plant that lives in water.
Biped Crustacean
An animal that uses two legs to walk on. An animal with an exterior skeleton such as a crab,
Amber
lobster or shrimp.
Fossilised tree resin.
Browser
An animal that feeds and grazes on plants. DNA
Ambush
Stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. This contains the
A surprise attack.
Carcass genetic code which determines how all living things
The dead body of an animal. are made and how they look.
Ammonites
A fossil of an Ammonoid - a sea creature that lived
Carnivore Decay
during the Jurassic and Cretaceous period.
An animal that only eats meat. When something rots because of the presence of
bacteria or fungi.
Amphibians
Climate
A cold-blooded vertebrate such as a frog or toad that
The usual weather conditions in an area. Defence
can live on both land and in water.
A way of protecting something from attack.
Colonisation
Arachnids
When an animal or plant lives in a certain area and Desert
A group of small animals similar to insects that have
begins to breed or grow. A large area of land with little or no water devoid of
four pairs of legs. These include spiders and
life.
scorpions.
Conifer
A tree that has needle shaped leaves. Diet
Armour
What a living thing eats.
A tough exterior that offers protection during battle.
Continent
Any of the world’s main expanses of land, such as Digest
Asteroid
Africa, America, Australia etc. Breaking down food into substances that can be
A large, irregular rock that orbits the Sun. If these
used by the body.
drop out of orbit they can crash to Earth.

© Teaching Packs - Dinosaurs - Page 55

Tyrannosaurus Rex
Ty-ran-no-sore-us Rex

T-Rex lived in the humid forests during the

Cretaceous period. The skull of the T-Rex could
be up to 1.5 metres long and they had a powerful
jaw capable of crunching through bones! Their
teeth could grow up to 20 cm long.

Meaning of name Tyrant Lizard

Time Cretaceous
Size 5.6 metres high, 12 metres long
Diet Carnivore
Lifestyle Hunter and/or Scavenger
Fossils location(s) USA
www.teachingpacks.co.uk
© Images: © ThinkStock
 Eoraptor
E-owe-rap-tore

Eoraptor hunted on the river banks for small

reptiles. They had powerful back legs and sharp
claws to help them catch and kill their prey.

Meaning of name Dawn Plunderer

Time Triassic
Size 1 metre long, 1 metre high
Diet Carnivore
Lifestyle Hunter
Fossils location(s) North-western Argentina
www.teachingpacks.co.uk
© Images: © ThinkStock
 The chart below shows the height of six different dinosaurs.
24
22 1) What was the tallest dinosaur?
20
18
Height (in metres)

_______________________________
16
14 2) What was the shortest
12 dinosaur?
10
8
_______________________________
6
4 3) How tall was an allosaurus?
2
0
_______________________________
Allosaurus

Brachiosaurus

Gallimimus

Oviraptor

Tyrannosaurus Rex
Argentinosaurus

4) How tall was a tyrannosaurus

rex?

_______________________________

Dinosaurs

5) How much taller was an argentinosaurus than a gallimimus?

____________________________________________________________________

6) Which dinosaur has the closest height to yours?

____________________________________________________________________

1 ©
www.teachingpacks.co.uk
Images: © ThinkStock
 I S S S P I N O S A U R U S S T X L
G F K A M D I P L O D O C U S O R C
U Z Y M H F V Y W E F G R M A I D Z
A A J Q U T E F W T D Y V I N Q H E
N A G Y F A L E P Z Z G V G Z C V Y
O J S T E G O S A U R U S D O Z U Y
D S Q K U H C Y J Q T H I X F W Y C
O Q J S V Q I V C P Q X X P C S H T
N P N I T B R A C H I O S A U R U S
U B U Q X X A A B O B B M X T M N R
Q D V M S I P R P Q H D C X W X N G
N A X N V A T U P H E M R C M T O M
T Y R A N N O S A U R U S R E X C W
Z X P B K X R I D B T W K M N M H W
A P A T O S A U R U S Y E O C G O T
U O S T R I C E R A T O P S Q C P E
N O Q F Y E E C J B M I R X N N L W
U F O M J A L L O S A U R U S T M A

Tyrannosaurus Rex Allosaurus

Velociraptor Spinosaurus
Allosaurus Spinosaurus
Diplodocus
Apatosaurus
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus
Triceratops Iguanodon
Apatosaurus Brachiosaurus
Brachiosaurus Triceratops
www.teachingpacks.co.uk
Images: © ThinkStock

Diplodocus Tyrannosaurus Rex

Iguanodon Velociraptor
©
One of the statues at the dinosaur park blinked
and looked into my eyes. I froze in fear…

©
www.teachingpacks.co.uk
Images: © ThinkStock
 BREAKING NEWS!
Dinosaur production facility
discovered in central London.

©
www.teachingpacks.co.uk
Images: © ThinkStock
[email protected]>[email protected]>

Dinosaur Tallies

www.teachingpacks.co.uk
© Images: © ThinkStock
 Triceratops
and Stegosaurus
©
www.teachingpacks.co.uk
Images: © ThinkStock
 Velociraptor
©
www.teachingpacks.co.uk
Images: © ThinkStock
 www.teachingpacks.co.uk

Thank you for looking at

our preview resources.
We hope that they are useful to you.

Join us today to download

thousands of resources from
our popular Teaching Packs!

Mark and Helen