Dinosaur Presentation

[Loon]

Hello all, I recently did an informative presentation on the history of innovations in dinosaur research throughout years. I figured I'd share the outline, for anyone who is interested:

                                                                                      The Dinosaurs You Know are Dead

Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the innovations in dinosaur research over the years.

Central Idea: Ever since fossil dinosaurs were first found, they have captured the imagination of both scientists and laymen alike. Recently, thanks to modern technology, we know more about dinosaurs than ever before.


Introduction

I. For over 1000 years, people have discovered the fossil remains of large reptiles, and have tried to understand how they appeared in life.
   A. In second century China, people found these bones and due to their reptilian appearance, described them as the bones of dragons.
   B. The Europeans found other fossilized bones, and thought t those of giants and other biblical creatures.
   C. In the 1700s, a remnant of the skeleton of one of these large reptiles, Megalosaurus, was thought to be the testicles of a giant. The name given to the bone in its early history was Scrotum humanun, which was the first scientific name given to one of the large reptiles, that perplexed humanity for so long, the dinosaurs.
II. Ever since their fossils were discovered, they have captured the imagination of both experts and the public, including myself.
III. Like most children, dinosaurs fascinated me; I watched the documentaries, I had the plastic toy produced by abused Chinese children, and tons of books. Recently, I've revisited the ancient reptiles, and my new-found appreciation for them has lead me to dedicate time to research the history and scientific innovations they have gone through over the years. Throughout my research, I've realized that you shouldn't become too attached to your own specific view of dinosaurs, whatever your view may be, I can assure you one thing...the dinosaurs you know are dead.
IV. I'm going to talk about the history of dinosaur paleontology, starting off with the early years of dinosaur paleontology, then the time known as the "Dinosaur Renaissance," and finally, the innovations made in dinosaur research since the 1990s.

(Transition: Let's start off with the early years of dinosaur research.)


Body

I. Around 1815, Oxford geology professor and Reverend, William Buckland, discovered the remnants of Megalosaurus, and became the first person to describe a "dinosaur" in a scientific journal.
   A. 7 years later, in 1822, Mary Mantell discovered the fossil teeth of another creature, and showed them to her husband, Gideon Mantell. Gideon described the creature, naming it Iguanodon, after its iguana-like teeth.
      1.  Soon, more fossils were discovered containing the remnants of similar animals; the English paleontologist, Sir Richard Owen, coined the term "Dinosaur" to describe this family of animals.
      2. As more evidence became available, several life reconstructions of these animals were devised.
      3. These early depictions of dinosaurs were large, lizard like monsters that resembled the love child of a rhinoceros and an iguana.   
B. Due to the increasing popularity of dinosaurs, workers at London's Crystal Palace commissioned Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins to construct life size replicas.
   1.In Darren Naish's book, Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved, published in 2016, he says that the large models of Iguanodon, and Megalosaurus in the Dinosaur Court of London's Crystal Palace, while amazingly inaccurate by today's standards, they represented the then most current research.   
   2. During their construction, Hawkins held a New Year's Eve party inside the mould of one of the models of the Iguanodon.
   3. When these models were first shown off, people from around the world were amazed, shocked, and terrified by them.
   4. However, the growing amounts of new information, and the models' subsequently growing numbers of inaccuracies, caused them to lose the public's interest.
   5. The evolutionary implications of one such discovery still resonate today.
   D. Joseph Castro's article, "Archaeopteryx: The Transitional Fossil," describes Archaeopteryx, an early fossil bird discovered in 1860; the fossil was so well preserved that feathers were visible.
      1. In their article, "Archaeopteryx: An Early Bird," the University of California Museum of Paleontology states that, "one skeleton of Archaeopteryx that had poorly preserved feathers was originally described as a skeleton of a small bipedal dinosaur, Compsognathus."
      2. The similarities of these two animals, compelled Thomas Huxley, a colleague of Charles Darwin, to suggest that small dinosaurs may have evolved into birds, due to their similar body structure.
      3. Huxley went as far as to even illustrate Compsognatus with feathers.
      4. Richard Owen disagreed, stating that archaeopteryx was the first bird, and outside of the dinosaur lineage; suggesting that birds may have shared their ancestry with crocodilians.
      5. After this, the dinosaur-bird connection faded into obscurity.

(Transition: By the close of the 19th century, dinosaurs had changed drastically thanks to scientific innovation; however, the 20th century would really be where things changed.)

II. As John Conway says in his book, All Yesterdays: Unique and Speculative Views of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals, published in 2015, the early 20th century provided an ever-increasing amount of information on dinosaurs because of increased funding due to their popularity, as well as more advanced technology and techniques.
   A. Continued discoveries of the bipedal, carnivorous dinosaurs, known as theropods, lead paleontologists to realize that they would have stood bipedally, like kangaroos.
      1. The popular art of the time cemented what would go on to be the popular look for dinosaurs for most of the 20th century; big, dumb, and slow, swamp dwelling lizards that were waiting to die.
   B. This all changed in 1969, when the paleontologist, John Ostrom scientifically described the theropod dinosaur, Deinonychus antirrhopus in the article, "Osteology of Deinonychus antirrhopus, an unusual theropod from the Lower Cretaceous of Montana."
      1. Ostrom described an animal who's remains betrayed an active, warm-blooded, and lithe, predator.
      2. Ostrom continued to describe Deinonychus as a "big bird."
   a. The implications and evidence Deinonychus and its kin left behind revitalized the evolutionary connection between theropod dinosaurs and birds.
      3. Ostrom's work on Deinonychus influenced his partner, Robert Bakker to illustrate the famous image of Deinonychus, which illustrated the new view of dinosaurs.
C. Ostrom and the Deinonychus revolutionized how dinosaurs would be viewed from then on, as active and warm-blooded animals; the succeeding era became known as the "Dinosaur Renaissance."
      1. The research conducted around this period supported the idea that the bipedal, and (usually) carnivorous, theropods would have stood horizontally, and would have been active animals like the Deinonychus. The herbivorous dinosaurs also became more active as well.
         a. Conway describes how some artists even began to speculatively feather certain bird-like dinosaurs, as shown in Sarah B. Landry's illustration of a feathered Syntarsus, now known as Coelophysis.
      2. However, pop culture still portrayed Dinosaurs as the lumbering lizards of the early 1900s; however, this would all change in 1993.
      3. 1993's Jurassic Park featured the warm blooded, and active dinosaurs of the Dinosaur Renaissance. The film conveyed some of the latest research on dinosaurs, and their connection to birds.
      4. The film's crew achieved this by consulting paleontologists such as Robert Bakker, and Jack Horner, who provided them with the most up-to-date research.

(Transition: Thanks to the Jurassic Park, public interest in paleontology and dinosaurs was greater than ever. Along with increased interest, came more funding for research projects, which helped lead to more discoveries.)

III. Described 3 years after the release of Jurassic Park, the Chinese dinosaur, Sinosauropteryx, a close relative of Compsognathus, revolutionized the field of dinosaur research.
      1. Dinosaur World's article on Sinosauropteryx, describes it as "the first dinosaur fossil ever found that showed evidence of having feathers."
      2. This new evidence supported the once speculative thought of dinosaurs sporting feathers. Sinosauropteryx and other feathered dinosaurs helped to further concrete the evolutionary connection between birds and dinosaurs.
      3. In Science Daily's reference page, "Feathered Dinosaurs," the preservation of these fossils is attributed to the sedimentary deposit known as Lagerstätte.
      4. The relatives of these newly discovered feathered dinosaurs were now thought to exibit feathers; even the mighty T. rex may have been fluffy in life.
      5. While bird-like feathers were more common in theropod dinosaurs; herbivorous dinosaurs, such as Psittacosaurus and its cousins, like Triceratops were also found to feature feather-like quills on their back sides. Ostrich-like dinosaurs, such as the Ornithimimids, have also been found with preserved feathering.   
      6. A very recent feathered dinosaur discover is the tail of a small dinosaur preserved in amber. Described in 2016, this tail featured the amazing preservation of soft tissue, including skin and feathers.
   B. The recent discovery of the small, 160-million-year-old, Siberian dinosaur, Kulindadromeus, supported the thought of dinosaurs that weren't very closely related to birds having feathers.
      1. Kulindadromeus was a member of a group of dinosaurs known as Neornithiscia, which was a group of herbivorous dinosaur that was very distantly related to the close relatives of birds, the theropods. 
      2. In his article, "Feathered Fossils Give Scaly Dinosaurs a Makeover," Dan Vergano explains that feathers, may have been ancestral to all dinosaurs, much like how all mammals, even including whales, still have hair.
   3. Vergano also explains that feathers may have evolved in ancestral dinosaur lineages to provide warmth, like to mammal hair/fur.
   4. So, all fossil dinosaurs may have possibly had feathers/feather-like structures on their bodies, but until more evidence comes in, no one can be sure of this.

Conclusion
I. Of course, around 66 million years ago, a 6-mile wide asteroid impacted near Chicxulub, Mexico and wiped out the dinosaurs. This is still true, mostly.
II. Thanks to their smaller size necessary for flight, the dinosaur-bird lineage survived and diversified after millions of years of recovery from the extinction.   
   II. Thanks to advanced scientific research, using techniques such as phylogeny, which studies how animals are distributed and diversify, scientists have place the dinosaur lineage that led to birds in the maniraptoran branch of the dinosaur family tree.
   IV. Thanks to their similarities with fossil dinosaurs, researchers have firmly placed birds within in the family Dinosauria, which means that birds not only evolved from theropod dinosaurs, but are theropod dinosaurs, themselves.
   V. So, I'd like to thank you all for listening, I really enjoy this topic, and I hope you enjoyed hearing about it.
Works Cited

Conway, John, C. M. Kosemen, Darren Naish, and Scott Hartman. All Yesterdays: Unique and Speculative Views of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals. S.l.: Irregular, 2013. Print.

"Arcaheopteryx: An Early Bird." University of California Museum of Paleontology. The Regents of the University of California, 2006. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.

"Are Birds Really Dinosaurs?" University of California Museum of Paleontology. The Regents of the University of California, 2006. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.

Castro, Joseph. "Archaeopteryx: The Transitional Fossil." LiveScience. Purch, 16 Mar. 2016. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.

"Feathered Dinosaurs." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 2017. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.

Fowler, Denver W., Elizabeth A. Freedman, John B. Scannella, and Robert E. Kambic. "The Predatory Ecology of Deinonychus and the Origin of Flapping in Birds." PLoS ONE 6.12 (2011): n. pag. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.

Naish, Darren, and Paul Barrett. Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved. Smirhsonian, 2016. Print.

Ostrom, John H. Osteology of Deinonychus Antirrhopus, an Unusual Theropod from the Lower Cretaceous of Montana. New Haven: Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, 1969. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.

"Phylogenetic Systematics." University of California Museum of Paleontology. The Regents of the University of California, 2006. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.

"Sinosauropteryx Prima - the First Feathered Dinosaur." Dinosaur World. Rockets-2-Go.com, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.

Vergano, Dan. "Feathered Fossils Give Scaly Dinosaurs a Makeover." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 09 Feb. 2017. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.

"What Are 'Crystal Palace Dinosaurs'? Quick Overview." Friends of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. FCPD, 2017. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.