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Dinosaurs lived in the Mesozoic Era, from 252 to 66 million years ago. The first dinosaurs appeared about 230 million years ago.

What makes a dinosaur? All dinosaurs held their legs directly under the body, and their ankles bent like a hinge. Flying pterosaurs, sea reptiles and crocodiles lived at the same time, but they were not dinosaurs.

Scientists sort dinosaurs into two big groups by the shape of their hip bones: ornithischians and saurischians. The shape of the teeth shows whether a dinosaur ate meat or plants. Most, if not all, laid eggs, and their fossils have been found on every continent, even Antarctica.

Experiment: Footprint detectives: is hip height about 4 × foot length?

1. Scientists estimate a dinosaur's hip height as about 4 times the length of its footprint. Let's test that rule on ourselves.
2. In pairs, measure each other's foot length (heel to longest toe) and hip height (floor to the top of the leg bone at the side of the hip), in cm.
3. Calculate 4 × foot length. Is it close to the real hip height?
4. Walk normally along the paper strip or chalk line with a damp sock or chalk on one shoe. Measure your stride: the distance between two prints of the same foot.
5. Fair test: walk again, then jog gently, on the same surface. Change only the speed; keep the same person and the same shoes.
6. Compare: is the stride longer when you go faster?

Pupil	Foot length (cm)	4 × foot length (cm)	Real hip height (cm)	Stride walking (cm)	Stride jogging (cm)
Me
Partner

Questions

1. Draw a timeline from 252 million years ago to today. Mark: first dinosaurs, the asteroid, the first people.

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2. Was 4 × your foot length close to your real hip height? Was your stride longer when you jogged? How did you keep the test fair?

3. Give two pieces of evidence that birds are dinosaurs.

4. Why did scientists change their minds about how Iguanodon stood?

Sources for every fact on this sheet: echoesof.science/school/dinosaurs/sources/

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