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ParkWise > Teachers > Nature > Fossils > Unit Outline

Activity 3:
Adaptations Worksheet

Adaptations are changes in a plant or animal that help it to survive.  In animals, adaptations can be:

  • structural - how the body is formed or shaped.  Fins and legs are two different structural adaptations.

  • physiological - how the body works.  Cold-blooded and warm-blooded are two different physiological adaptations.

  • behavioral - what the animal does, such as hibernating in the winter.

  1. List 3 structural adaptations of the hadrosaur that paleontologists have learned from fossils and explain how each would help it to survive.

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  2. Paleontologists have also discovered that hadrosaurs were social animals by uncovering fossil evidence of at least two behavioral adaptations.  Some hadrosaurs lived in large herds and so have been nicknamed the "cows of the Cretaceous".  A fossilized Maiasaura nesting area showed that they nested in groups and cared for their young even after they hatched.  For each behavioral adaptation, explain how you believe it helped the hadrosaurs survive.

    Living in groups ________________________________________

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    Caring for their young ___________________________________

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Diversity is the variety of different living things.  The more different kinds of plants and animals the more diverse is the ecosystem.  To understand the diversity of life on earth, we need to understand the similarities and differences between living things.  Species become more diverse by acquiring new adaptations.  Species are classified based on their adaptations.  A classification helps us to organize and understand the similarities and differences between organisms and to chart the diversity of life.

  1. All dinosaurs have three things in common.  What are they?  (Refer to the Introduction to Paleontology if you need to). 

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  2. All dinosaurs can be placed into two groups, or orders.  What are the two groups, and what is different about them? 

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  3. All of the dinosaurs of the order Ornithischia had evolved an adaptation important for eating that paleontologists believe helped them to be very successful.  What was that adaptation and why was it important?

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  4. The order Ornithischia has three suborders.  One suborder is called Ornithopoda.  They were named for the type of feet they had.  What did their feet look like, and how did they walk?  Did the other suborders of Ornithischia have the same type of feet or walk the same way?

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  5. Hadrosaurs are a family of Ornithopoda.  They Hadrosaurs were duck-billed with no front teeth.  They include the Maiasaur, the Edmontosaur, and the Lambeosaur.  They had at least 2 further adaptations for eating.  What were they?

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  6. The Lambeosaurs had an intriguing adaptation to their heads, that does not seem to be for eating.  What was it, and what do you think it was for?
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    7.
  7. What else have paleontologists learned about what the hadrosaurs looked like?  
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  8. You have now listed many of the adaptations used for classifying hadrosaurine dinosaurs.  Looking at the classification table, what adaptations would the Hadrosaurs have in common with the Sauropoda?  What would be different?  (Hint:  don't forget to start at the top).

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  9. What would the Hadrosaurs have in common with the Hypsilophodontidae?  What adaptations would the Hadrosaurs have that the Hypsilophodontidae would not?

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    10.
Populations and Ecosystems:  Populations are all of the individuals of a species that live in a particular time and place.  Different populations and the environment they live in together make up the ecosystem.  Populations can be understood by what their role is in the ecosystem.
  1. Based on the adaptations discovered in the fossil record, what role did the hadrosaur play in the ecosystem?
    Carnivore - hunts and eats meat
    Herbivore - eats plants
    Scavenger - eats already dead meat
    Decomposer - helps to decompose dead plants and animal
     
  2. For the ecosystem that Hadrosaurs lived in, we know three levels of the food web (who eats what).  Level one are the plants that get their energy from the sun.  Are Hadrosaurs level two or level three?  What famous dinosaur occupies the other level?

    (1) Sunlight  is absorbed by (2) Plants which are eaten by
    (3) _____________  which are in turn eaten by (4) ____________.
     
  3. What type of environment do you think the hadrosaur lived in?  Why?
    Ocean
    Desert
    Prairie
    Thick Forest
    Mixed trees and grasslands
    Mountain tops
    Glacier
     
  4. Do you think Hadrosaurs populations were small or large?  What evidence do you have?

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