BONES

BIG HORN BASIN FOUNDATION

December, 1999

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"The Thing That Hit The Earth"
Once upon a time there lived a dinosaur. His name is Tri ptery g pachy macro diplo dino gnathus podia. He was nine feet long and three feet wide. He had three wings and two feet. He was a meat eater. He could go twenty-three feet high. He lived in Wyoming.
One day he saw a long neck so he flew as fast as he could toward it with his mouth open. In a minute he was eating his lunch peacefully when he saw one of his predators was coming so he took off and flew away.
One day Tri saw something coming toward the earth. So he flew over the thing that was coming. He looked at it curiously. He flew higher so he wouldn't get smashed. Tri went down and ate his prey and stated his journey again!! He was going to warn the Pteranodons of the thing that hit the ground.
When he got there, he told them about it. They wanted to see it. Tri said it wouldn't be a good idea. So the Pteranodons decide not to go.
All the Pteranodons and Tri began to fly high in the air to begin their journey across the sea. The Pteranodons had to catch food for Tri. When they got to land they saw the big black thing coming. Tri yelled to the other dinosaurs to get in the water so all the dinosaurs ran to the water for safety. When it hit they could not see each other for a minute.
 
After the dust settled the dinosaurs said he saved our lives. Now let's see if we can climb back up it. When they were on top they said good-by to the Tri and the pteranodons and they never saw them again or the big black thing either.
Second Place
Dinosaur Story/Essay
Age 6-10
Charles Edward Howard
LaBarge, Wyoming
"DINOSAURS"
Studying dinosaurs is very interesting because it involves travel all over the world. You might be able to uncover secrets from the long lost past. You could go though the prehistoric times and relive the past. This might make you able to meet a famous paleontologist and get some hints. A crew could help you or it could just be you. You might want to put on a scuba suit and look for an ichthosauras skeleton at the bottom of the ocean.
There have been many famous paleontologists in the past. One famous paleontologist was Sir Richard Owen, who was a superintendent at the British Museum of natural history from 1856 to 1884. He gave dinosaurs their mane. Jim Jensen found a three eyed dinosaur. Werner Janensch lead an expedition to East Africa where he found the remains of a brachsaurus. Dr. Walter Granger was the first ever to find a fossil in Mongolia. Mary Anning sold fossils to scientists. She was the first to find three complete fossils of different dinosaurs the names of these dinosaurs ere ichthyosaur, plesiosaur, and pterosaurs. She was born in 1799 and she died in the 1847; she was forty-eight years old when she died. She lived in Lymel Regis in Dorset, England. Andrew Carnegie donated replicas of gigantic sauropods to museums. Edward C. Drinker was a professor at Haverford in Pennsylvania in 1866. He was the owner and editor of American Naturalist from 1889 to 1897. He found over one thousand fossils species. Othniel Charles Marsh wrote two books called The Dinosaurs of North America and Fossil Horses in North America. He discovered over one thousand fossils. He died when he was sixty-eight years old.
If you plan on going on a dig, here are some materials you will need. A map would be handy to tell you where you are trying to go. You will need a magnifying glass, at least a ten power lens, so you can look at small fossils from beyond. You will also need a wiskbroom to brush away soil and rocks from your fossils. A newspaper and small boxes of cotton would be handy to pack your fossils in. A chisel and a hammer would be helpful to break away rocks from the ground. An ordinary hammer will not work. You will need an awl and a cork to break off soft dirt, a notebook with a ballpoint pen to write down where you found the fossil, and masking tape to tape paper around your fossil.
To be safe you will need gloves and goggles to protect your hands and eyes from flying chips of rocks. If you get hit by a rock you will need a band-aid. You will also need a knapsack and food in case you have to spend the night or get hungry.
There are a lot of famous dinosaur discoveries. A brachiosaurus was found in East Africa. A protoceratopos was found in 1963 on a trip to Mongolia. A rhynchosaurs was found in South America a distant cousin to a rhinoceros. A stegosaurs and a diplolocus were found in North America. The diplodocuses hind limb bone was found there too. A nothosaurs and peloneustes were found on the beaches of the Tethys Seas.
Did you ever wonder what the names and how the dinosaurs looked? The ankylosaurs was covered in armor the tail was a huge club. It had a broad heavy body with short legs. It could reach up to fourteen feet from head to tail. It lived in North America, and Central and South Asia. An allosaurs could reach thirty feet tall. It could walk five miles per hour. Paleontologists think that it was a scavenger because of it's small arms and because it could not run fast. It was found in Wyoming, Colorado, and Western United States. It lived in the Jurassic through the Cretaceous period. An elasmosaurus was a carnivore it ate squid and other cephalopods. The largest it could grow to be was twelve meters long. The elasmosauruses died out at the end of the Cretaceous period. The nothosaurs had a long neck and webbed feet it could grow up to six meters long. It was an amphibious creature. It lived in the Triassic period. A rhynchosaurs had a nut cracker jaw. It was a plant eater. It had a heavy built body. It lived in South America in the Triassic period. A stegosaurus had two rows of plates down it's back on it's tail were four big spikes. Scientists think the plates had blood running through them to cool it's body down. It ate plants and lived in North America in the late Jurassic period. Placodonts were large newt like creatures. Their bodies were armored with bony lumps. They had flat teeth for crushing shellfish. The placodonts were extinct by the end of the Triassic period. The tanystropheus had a long neck to reach out and get it's prey with sharp teeth. It lived in the Cenozoic era. The kuehneosaurus ribs were extended sideways to help support it's membrane. It's skin was stretched to it's bones to help it glide from tree to tree. It lived in the Cretaceous period. A diplodocus could grow to be eighty eight feet tall. It had a long neck with a small head. It ate soft pants. It lived in the Jurassic period. A polacanthus was an armored dinosaur. It had a double row of spikes on it's back and it's tail. It lived in the Cretaceous period. The mesosaurus had a lizard like body and a crocodile like head with webbed feet. It could grow to be forty center meters in length. It was a conorvor[carnivore]. It lived in the Triassic period. An ichthyosaurs evolved into a perfect stream lined shape. A fish like tail propelled them through the water at a high speed. It had sharp teeth and feed on fish. It began to die out in the early Cretaceous period.
Paleontologists do fantastic things. Over the years, the paleontologists have made tools that they used to find dinosaurs. Paleontologists like Bob Baker[Bakker] of Casper has made famous discoveries over the years. Everyone can have a lot of fun digging for dinosaurs!!!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brasch, Kate and Varin, Philippe Jean. Prehistoric Monsters. New York: The Trumpet Club, C. 1985. pages 16, 24 & 25, 38 & 39, 47.
Chapman, Roy, Andrews. In The Days of The Dinosaurs. New York: Random House. C. 1980. page 65.
Hussey, Lois J. and Pessino, Catherine. Collecting Small Fossils. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. C. 1970. pages 22-25 &33.
May, Julian. They Turned To Stone. New York: Holiday House. C. 1965. pages 65-67.
McMullen, Kate. Dinosaur Hunters. New York: Random
House, C. 1989. pages & 23
Prehistoric Life Encyclopedia: Chicago, New York, San
Francisco: Rand McNally & Company. C. 1982. pages & 56 - 59 & 65
Webster's New Biographical Dictionary. Springfield Massachusetts INC, C. 1988. page. 762
First Place
Dinosaur Story/Essay
Age 11-14
David Adam Stanley
Casper, Wyoming
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