Gillespie School
Chicago, Illinois
Vera Rhodes, 7th-8th Grade

These wonderful students from Gillespie were happy to know that they were taking part of a exciting experience. The class's interest in the expedition was higher than expected. Their curiousty lead most of the students to wonder about other things such as the extinction of dinosaurs, evolution, and cavemen. The class is planning on making a Dinosaur bulletin board so the rest of the school could admire the pre-historic giants. The students are also interested in visiting the dinosaur prep-lab and the Giants exhibit at Garfield Park.

Student Questions:

1. Which kind of fossil is a dinosaur foot print?
   
   SERENO: A footprint is what we call a “trace” fossil. Trace fossils preserve an action of an organism. “Body” fossils, on the other hand, preserve the hard parts of an organism.
   
   
2. Did dinosaurs live during the Mesozoic era?
   
   MILLER: That’s right, the Mesozoic is sometimes called the Age of Dinosaurs because that is when dinosaurs were the dominant kind of animal on the planet. The first dinosaurs emerged early in the Mesozoic and they all died out at the end of the Mesozoic.
   
   
3. How long did dinosaurs roam the earth and Niger?
   
   GRAY: From about 230 million years ago till 65 million years ago.
   
   
4. Name the most famous dinosaur in Niger.
   
   SERENO: Probably Suchomimus, the spinosaur. However, all of the dinosaurs we have named are pretty new to dino fans.
   
   
5. Parent Question:
   List the kinds of dinosaurs located in Niger.
   
   GRAY: Sauropods (large animals that walked on all fours and had particularly long necks), therapods (walked on two legs and were generally carnivorous) and ornithiscians (this family includes the duckbill and ceratopsian dinosaurs of North America).