Australian Dinosaur Story

Student Activity 5 ~ Society and the environment
Dinosaur feeding at Cretaceous Park

 

Pretend you are the director of Cretaceous Park, a new zoo containing animals, including dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period.

At Cretaceous Park, all the animals need to live in a habitat that is very similar to their natural one. They would also need to be fed with their natural food.


Cretaceous Park Zoo

The animals in your zoo include the following:
1.
 
 

Two Ichthysaurs - These big reptiles are about 5 metres long. They live in the sea, and will need a lot of swimming room. For food, they eat a lot of fish and squid.

 Image. Ichthysaur dinosaur.
2.
 

 
 
  		Three Muttaburrasaurus - These are very large Ornithopod dinosaurs, being about 7 metres tall. They walk about on all four feet, and are herbivores, slashing down the large ferns and cycads that grow in the forest. Being such big animals, they need lots of food. Image. Muttaburrasaurus dinosaur.
3.
 
 
 

 
  		Two Austrosaurus - These are huge Sauropod dinosaurs, and are about 20 metres long. They are herbivores, and being cold blooded, need relatively less food for such large animals. They move about quite slowly on all 4 legs, and their long necks allow them to reach leaves on very high branches. Image. Austrosaurus dinosaur.
4.
 
 

 		 One Theropod - This is a big fierce hunter. It is a fast moving carnivore, and being about 8 metres long, needs a lot space. It hunts other reptiles for food, and cannot share an enclosure with any animals that it might attack. Image. Tyrannosauropus dinosaur.
5.
 
 

 Ten Coelurosaurs - They are small, nimble carnivores up to half a metre in height. Their diet might consist of insects, frogs and very small reptiles. Image. Skartopus dinosaur.
6.
 
 
 
 		 Six Ornithopods - These dinosaurs run and walk about on their hind legs as many present day birds do. They vary in height, growing to between the size of a chicken and an emu. They are herbivores, eating low-growing vegetation. Image. Wintonopus dinosaur.
7.
 
 
 

 
 
  		Four Pterosaurs - These are flying reptiles. They are large, with very light bodies so they can fly. Their wing span is about 5 metres. They have membranes of skin to form these wings, much like present day bats. They are very good at flying and gliding, so they are going to need a very large enclosure. They are carnivores, mainly feeding on fish and small reptiles. Image. Pterosaurs dinosaur.
8.
 
 
  		Twenty five Ammonites - These are marine animals. They live in the sea, where they swim around and feed off small fish and other small marine animals. They are up to 1 metre in size. Image. Ammonite marine animal.

 

Your zoo will also include the plants found in the Cretaceous Period. These include giant ferns, cycads, and ginkgos.

Zoo Director

As the Director, your tasks are to design Cretaceous Park, and to manage the food
supply for the animals.

1. Design Cretaceous Park

Design the new zoo, and create a plan of your design. You will need to design enclosures for all of the animals in the zoo. To do this, you will need to think about the habitat that each animal needs. This will also include the plants that grow there. Remember to indicate how large each enclosure is.
  • You will also need to think about which of the animals might be able to live together in the same enclosures, and which ones must be separated.
  • Don't forget to include the viewing areas!

2. Feeding your Animals.

Your animals will need to be fed.

  • Draw up a list of the kinds of food you will need to feed your animals.
  • Now list how much of each kind of food you will need for Cretaceous Park to feed all the animals for one week.

 

(info from www.abc.net.au/ozfossil/ageofreptiles/fauna)

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