This weeks article should be related to the Ornithischian dinosaur or any member of ornithischian.  Read the PowerPoints for the week to get topic ideas. The article can be no older than 5 years old. You will need to write a summary about the article in your own words and include how the article relates to the topic we are discussing in class. You will also need to respond to at least two other students summaries.

1-The article I chose is called ‘Bird-hipped’ Jurassic dinosaur was one of the first to live in herds. In this article they focus on the Lesothosaurus. It goes into detail about the excavation of a “bonebed” in South Africa. They are trying to uncover how the Lesothosaurus lived, socialized,, and fought off preditors together.

From their findings, they concluded that Lesothosaurus lived in herds. The bones of 17 Lesothosaurus were discovered. This suggested that they were social dinosaurs. The article then moves to talk about Lesothosaurus size. They explain how it was a small bipedal creature. They also discovered that these dinosaurs grew until they were about 6 years old.

They looked at and reviewed over 27 specimen to find out how these dinosaurs grew. Their findings of the Lesothosaurus bones are helping to understand what the beginning of the Jurassic period looked like. They are still digging up more specimens in order to gain a better understanding of these dinosaurs and their living habits.

2-This week we covered the topic of the Ornithischian dinosaur. One thing to note about this group is that the Triceratops make up a part of these creatures. The Triceratops is an iconic dinosaur used in many instances in the film industry. One famous example is a blue Triceratops named Trixie in Toy Story 3. These creatures are so fun to not only learn about in class, but also see where else these dinosaurs are used in.

The article published by Britannica mentions that the Ornithischian dinosaurs are actually not even related to birds. Although their name literally means “bird-hipped”, they really are not related at all. It is only like that because their hip bones are very similar to the composition of birds. We have discussed this previously with how important it is to note similarities between bone structures. Bone structures tell us a lot about their ancestral history, and who they are closely related to.

The Ornithischian dinosaurs are interesting to study. They have a lot of physical features that helped with survival and defense. The bony tendons and horns helped with defensive strategies. Meanwhile, the type of teeth they possessed allowed them to eat various types of plants. The numerous creatures that fall under Ornithischian dinosaurs were all fascinating to learn about this week.