Paleontologists
Major Discoveries & Theories
Ages, Eras, Extinctions
Paleontological Terms
Trivia
100

She was a female fossil hunter from England, and hunted for fossils in Dorset Coast. She is most well known for her findings of ichthyosaur and plesiosaur fossils. 

Mary Anning 

100

This fossil specimen of T-Rex is one of the best preserved fossils of T-Rex and was named after its discoverer. 

Sue

100

This was the era that the classical dinosaurs lived in.

The Mesozoic Era

100

The hard bit of an organism that eventually turns to stone

Fossil

100

This is what fossilized feces is called

Coprolites

200

He is most famous for partaking in the "Bone Wars".  He discovered many famous dinosaurs such as, Allosaurus, Triceratops, and Triceratops.

Othniel Marsh

200

The discovery of this German dinosaur showed an interesting relation between dinosaurs and birds, and ultimately helped support the idea of evolution that had just been popularized by Charles Darwin just a few years prior.

Archaeopteryx 

200

These are the three periods that Mesozoic era was comprised of.

Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous
200

This is a type of fossil that showed evidence of an organism. Ex: Footprints

Trace Fossil

200
This dinosaur has the shortest scientific name.

Yi Qi

300

He was responsible for discovering and naming the first ever dinosaur (Megalosaurus) in 1824 England

William Buckland

300

The discovery of this dinosaur in 1990's China saw the first ever non-avian like dinosaur to have feathers further strengthening the link between dinosaurs and birds, but also planted the seed of the idea that non-avian dinosaurs may have had feathers.

Sinosauropteryx 

300

This was the worst extinction event in history. An estimated 96% of species did not survive and went extinct.  Hint it happened around 252 million years ago.

Permian-Triassic Extinction,  A.K.A. The Great Dying

300

This layered mat of fossilized microbes represent some of Earth's oldest life forms.

Stromatolites 

300

This is the formation that spans over several states (Montana, North & South Dakota, and Wyoming) and contains multiple famous species (Ex: T-Rex, triceratops)

Hell Creek Formation

400

He is best known for pushing the theory that dinosaurs were endothermic and likely had feathers.

Robert Bakker

400

This discovery of this specific Australopithecus specimen in 1974 that helped our understanding of hominin evolution.

Lucy

400

This was the period when fish first walked on land. Hint: Around 375 mya

Devonian Period

400

This is the study of how fossils form.

Taphonomy

400

This is the adjective for a rock that is especially fossil dense.

Fossiliferous

500

He was responsible for the "Dinosaur Renaissance", discovered Deinonychus, and was the leading figure to prove that dinosaurs weren't slow-moving dull creatures. He also pushed for the belief that birds were closely related, and later helped advocate that birds were descendants of dinosaurs.

John Ostrom
500

The discovery of this ancient fish in Nunavut, Canada helped our understanding of how fish evolved to walk on land.

Tiktaalik

500

What Epoch are we in right now?

Holocene Epoch

500

This is the substudy of using fossils to date and correlate different layers/types of rocks.

Biostratigraphy

500

What is the end of a Stegosaurus tail called?

Thagomizer