Fun Trivia : Paleontology

Structure Sub-topic of: Sci / Tech Quizzes Other encyclopedia entries of interest: Evolution | Interesting Questions, Facts and Information There are a total of 20 general entries. Special Topics They Are Not Dinosaurs Mammals but not Men or Mammoths Australia's Dinosaurs The Prehistoric World Dinosaur Ages Dino-Diets No Dinosaurs. No Humans. Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals Dinosaurs - Missing Links When Dinosaurs Roamed The World Cretaceous or Jurassic? Saber-Tooth Cats Fossilized Sharks Extinct Sharks Identify The Dinosaur Test your "dino" skills Pterosaurs: Rulers of the Sky Prehistoric Beasts Dinosaur Nomenclature Fossils and Dinosaurs

Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information

Paleontology

What is the name of the study of what happens to fossils after their deposition?

Random Paleontology Knowledge


Taphonomy.



Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Random Paleontology Knowledge


Egg . Eggs existed long before chickens.



What does the name Dinofelis mean?

Random Paleontology Knowledge


Terrible Cat. Dinofelis was a saber-toothed cat named for its frightful appearance.



Therapsids were warm blooded reptiles that lived during the Permian and Triassic periods. They are the ancestors of mammals, but which type of therapsid are mammals directly descended from?

Basic Paleontology Quiz


Cynodont. Cynodont means 'dog tooth' and they are the direct ancestors of mammals. Theriodonts were giant predators and dicynodonts were bulky herbivores, both of which went extinct by the end of the Triassic. Pelycosaurs are not therapsids, but are their ectothermic ancestors.



What feature of reptiles make them inherently superior to amphibians as terrestrial animals?

Basic Paleontology Quiz


Amniotic Egg. Reptiles are superior to amphibians as land animals in numerous ways, but the primary feature that made them so was the waterproof amniotic egg. These shelled eggs made them independent of aquatic reproduction.



In most respects the extinct marsupial thylacine of Tasmania closely resembles mamalian carnivores elswhere, but they are not closely related. This is an example of what kind of evolution?

Basic Paleontology Quiz


Convergent.



Ammonites, cephalopod mollusks that used to abound in the oceans until the great Cretaceous extinction, are most closely related to which living mollusk?

Basic Paleontology Quiz


Nautilus. Nautilus and ammonites are both nautiloids. Although ammonites are extinct, nautilus is still very similar to its extinct relatives.