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What
are the kids asking this week?
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September 25:
Carol Norton and Becky Jaramillo Norwood
Elementary School 6th Grade Science
Peoria, IL
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What was the environment
like 110 million years ago when Nigersaurus
was in Africa? Why would Nigersaurus
need so many teeth if it was a plant
eater? Did the baby skull have teeth?
Answer:
The Sahara Desert, geologically
speaking, is quite young - less than
one million years old. When dinosaurs
like Suchomimus roamed the land, it
was a lush environment with stands
of trees and broad rivers. Crocodiles,
turtles and fish lived in, and alongside,
these rivers and huge pterosaurs soared
overhead. Nigersaurus needed all those
teeth - all plant eaters really need
teeth - even more than meat eaters!
Plant eaters must cut up vegetation
before swallowing it. Meat eaters
sometimes swallow things whole. Plant
eaters either need teeth that can
grow as fast as they are worn down,
or need to be able to grow new teeth
to replace worn ones. Nigersaurus
adopted the second solution, with
many new teeth growing under each
tooth at the jaw margin - much like
a shark. Since Nigersaurus's teeth
are very narrow, there are hundreds
of teeth in the jaws of a single skull.
The smallest jaw we collected has
many teeth. After hatching Nigersaurus
would have needed to start nipping
and eating plants right away. - Paul
Sereno
- We have read about legal tie-ups regarding
Sue. While we'll own the bones and where
will they be held after the excavation?
Are there any political concerns that
will effect the expedition?
Answer:
There are many concerns during an expedition
and it is important to learn to communicate
effectively with both presidents of
countries and local villages alike.
Therefore, it is important to be able
to speak at least one of the local languages
and to learn basic greetings like "hello"
and "thank you" in several languages.
I speak French as well as a few other
languages, and have learned some phrases
as well in Hausa and Tomacheck. We signed
formal agreements before work takes
place in Niger. The fossils belong to
the people of Niger and are very important
objects that tell the deep history,
not only of their country, but also
of Africa. In the future, a special
relationship may result in a collection
of fossils that may stay permanently
in Chicago, but the bones we are working
with now will be held in the National
Museum in Niamey, the capital of Niger.
In addition, we donate copies of mounted
skeletons of the animals we find to
the country. - Paul Sereno
- What other dinosaurs might have lived
during the same time period? How might
they have interacted with each other?
Answer:
In the Gadafawa Region, we are working
in rock that were laid down 110 million
years ago. The bones of many different
kinds of animals are preserved: we have
found many kinds of fish, four kinds
of turtles, at least four crocodiles,
including Sarcosuchus, a huge Pterosaur,
and many dinosaurs - including meat
eaters like Suchomimus, plant-eaters
like Oranosaurus and Nigersaurus. We
know they lived together because they
often find fossils of different animals
buried together. We also find direct
evidence of interaction: fossils with
teeth marks scratched on them during
a meal. - Paul Sereno
- Did the dinosaurs communicate, and
if so, how? Were they social animals
that lived together and shared nests?
Answer:
Because many of the sites we have collected
here preserve more than a single skeleton
we believe Jobaria lived in herds. We
don't know about the other dinosaurs
we are finding. However, it is likely
many of the dinosaurs lived in social
groups at least some of the time. We
now know that all dinosaurs laid eggs
because tiny skeletons of plant and
meat eating dinosaurs have been found
in unhatched eggs and some dinosaurs
may have cared for the eggs after they
were laid and for young dinosaurs after
they hatched. - Paul Sereno
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Where do you find
information you need about fossils
or dinosaurs when you are on an expedition?
Whom do you ask? How do you communicate
with them?
Answer:
We bring a library of papers and books
with us we think we might need to
refer to, but now that we have an
electronic uplink, we can email or
telephone via satellite back home
to get information. For example, I
recently contacted my French colleague,
Didier Dutheil, to bring an important
paper with him on one of the dinosaurs
(Oranosaurus) that I had forgotten.
- Paul
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On the worksheets
for planning the expedition, our calculations
included the weight of extra gas containers
for the 5 day return trip with fossils
(which was not mentioned on the page).
How much gas would be required for
the 5-day trip? How much would that
amount of gas weigh? How many miles
per gallon?
Answer:
Because days are so varied (sometimes
we are prospecting, sometimes we are
staying put at an excavation site),
we don't calculate in days, we calculate
in distance. On a full tank we get
350 miles, and our tanks hold about
17 gallons. We've never measured but
we estimate that diesel weighs about
7 pounds a gallon. These are important
kinds of things to consider - and
in fact, as we made our way north
to Camp 2, we realized we needed to
take more diesel and sent someone
into town to buy it. We had enough
to get us north - but not enough for
the trip back to Agadez! - Gabrielle
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Could there be fossils
in clay and/or sand? We were studying
Illinois geology and found that the
only place that had layers from the
Mesozoic era was in southern Illinois,
but it was just sand or clay. We were
trying to figure out if it was possible
that a dinosaur fossil could be found
there. Did that layer erode because
of glacial action or was it wind or
water erosion?
Answer:
There is a small chance some bone
could be found, but the area you are
referring to is very small and likely
the rocks may have been closer to
the edge of the sea than to land.
You might ask this question in reverse:
why didn't it erode away? IT may be
more useful to ask the question is
why did any of it get left at all?
Cretaceous beds have been eroded away
almost everywhere else in Illinois.
So why did it get preserved where
it did? It was a low spot. - Paul
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Does erosion move
the fossils in any direction away
from their original position, or does
it simply destroy them? We were wondering
if the fossils that would have been
in Illinois during the Mesozoic era
might be laying in the area of the
moraine.
Answer:
Re:"Does erosion move the fossil in
any direction away from their original
position or does it simply destroy
them?"
Erosion - forces of wind, water -
can move fossils, reorient them (change
their direction) mix them, and it
can also abraid (wear down the edges)
them. -Paul
Re:"We were wondering if we might
find dinosaur fossils in the moraine?"
Very unlikely - probably impossible
because the moraine is far north of
any of the Cretaceous rocks that would
contain dinosaur fossils. The glacier
pushed over much older rocks, but
did not glide over the dinosaur age
rock in Illinois. -Paul
-
What is a lobe? We
noticed that word in our study of
Illinois geology. Does it always refer
to glacier, is it just a shape name,
or does it refer to other formations.
Ex. Wisconsin glacial lobe.
Answer:
We aren't sure about the answer to
this one so we've asked an Illinois
geologist at Northeastern Illinois
University to respond. Her name is
Ellin Beltz and you should receive
an answer from her in a few days.
-Gabrielle
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Do you plan any recreational
activities (GameBoy) during this dig
or are you too exhausted at the end
of the day's work to play sports or
watch videos?
Answer:
Sometimes we throw a disk around and
play Frisbee. It depends on what the
day's activities have been. We play
chess, too, in the evenings. The games
can get pretty intense. Most of the
time I just enjoy watching the stars
and slowing down at the end of the
day. -Rudd
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Have you sustained
any injuries on this expedition? What-broken
bones? Were they directly related
to the excavating of fossils? How
were they remedied?
Answer:
We have not had any fractures
but we have had small cuts and abrasions,
injured joints and backs - all of
which were related to excavation.
No broken bones so far. One person
hit their toe with a pickaxe, but
he was wearing field boots and they
protected him from more serious injury.
Even for minor cuts and abrasions,
we have to be very careful with the
initial cleaning and bandaging to
avoid complications like infections.
- Dr. Tim Lyman
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Are the dinosaurs
you are finding, filling in the geological
gaps of the natural history of the
world?
Answer:
Yes! They are filling gaps in the
history of life over time. Any new
piece of information helps fill in
the puzzle of natural history and
it is a very exciting experience to
realize that when you find something
new you are adding a piece to the
puzzle. -Rudyard
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The maps were looked
at outlined Lake Chicago. It was hard
to tell where the boundary really
was. Would the lake have covered Naperville?
Would the limestone have come from
Lake Chicago or the inland sea that
was there before?
Answer:
I don't think it ever did. The limestone
would have been laid down by the ancient
sea that existed before the dinosaurs
evolved, more than 400 million years
ago. -Paul
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We know that carbon
dating is used to determine the age
of the rock surrounding the fossils.
Is there a technique or method for
determining the actual age of fossils?
Is it a range of years? or centuries?
Answer:
Some students from another school
asked this question earlier. Check
out the question database on the website
for our answer. Thanks! -Gabrielle
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