Answers to Exploration Questions: Dinosaur Fossils

If you are wondering where the suggested answers came from, you can review the video and the articles in this tutorial.

1. How had railroads and John Bell Hatcher changed paleontology fieldwork by the early 20th century?

Answer: Before railroads, paleontologists relied on wagons and pack animals to transports their fossils. These fossils were usually shipped in fragments and with little packaging and information. John Bell Hatcher developed a systematic process for collecting fossils and recording important information about each one, and trains made it much easier to safely ship large amounts of fossils and their surrounding rock.

2. Imagine you are a paleontologist leading an important expedition for the American Museum of Natural History. Describe how you and your team might use the following tools as you search for dinosaur fossils and prepare them for study:

Sample Answer: Before an expedition begins, we may use satellite photos to identify areas of exposed rock in places where rocks formed during the Mesozoic era. Then we hike across the area looking for fossils. If we find one, we use a brush to remove loose dirt, then use tools like rock hammers to break away the rock around the fossil. We dig a trench around the fossil, pry it out of the ground, and then wrap it with plaster bandages to make a “jacket” that protects the fossil when we ship it back to the museum. Back in the lab, we open the jacket and use smaller tools like dental tools and carbide steel needles to carefully chip away the matrix, as we look through a microscope.  If the bone is damaged, we may use adhesives to repair or stabilize it. Sometimes we’ll make a mold of a fossil out of silicone rubber, then we fill the mold with epoxy resin to make a detailed cast of the fossil.

3. Are scientists currently able to clone a dinosaur like they did in the movie Jurassic Park? Explain your answer.

Answer: No, scientists cannot clone a dinosaur. One reason is that they don’t have enough DNA from a single dinosaur.  Also, the DNA they do have is severely damaged because it starts to break down as soon as the animal dies and becomes contaminated.

4. Imagine you are a radio reporter in the 1920s. You are about to interview Barnum Brown. Write an introduction for Mr. Brown and three questions you’d like to ask him.

Sample Answer: Today I’m honored to be talking with Barnum Brown, the great dinosaur fossil hunter and curator at the American Museum of Natural History. Brown is perhaps best known for his discovery of the first T. rex fossil. But few may know that he studied as a geologist and began his career hunting for fossil mammals – not dinosaurs. Welcome, Mr. Brown. How did you discover the first T. rex? How did you feel when you found it? If you could discover any fossil, what would it be?