Young Scholars OHIO 2011

    click to enlarge

    Front row, from left: Max, Prescott, Eric, Gus, Sam, Lillien. Second row: Larry Witmer, Elijah, Iris, M'Kinzy, Sidney, Will, Josh, Emma. Third row: Lyman. Back row standing: Eric Snively, Madeleine Ray, Adam Krause, William Porter, Jason Bourke, Cheyenne Romick, Ryan Ridgely, Dave Dufeau, Ashley Morhardt

    Field Guide to the Dinosaurs of the WitmerLab

    The Young Scholars OHIO program, in conjunction with the OU Office of Nationally Competitive Awards and the Honors Tutorial College , brought about 48 profoundly gifted students  from 17 states across the country to Ohio University for a range of enrichment programs. WitmerLab hosted 15 of these students, aged 6–11, on 2 May 2011 for a workshop wherein the students worked with the 70+ dinosaur skull casts in the lab and WitmerLab staff and students to learn how paleontologists "flesh out" out the past. In addition to discovering the diversity and drama of dinosaur evolution, the students created this Field Guide to the Dinosaurs of the WitmerLab. A more complete photo gallery to our dinosaur skull cast collection can be found on our WitmerLab Collection page .

    For more photos, visit the album on our Facebook page!


    This video ran on the lab big-screen during the workshop. Here's more.

    Elijah & Tyrannosaurus rex
    Chloe & Camarasaurus
    Emma & Tyrannosaurus rex

    That dinosaur, the Tyrannosaurus rex , when it was in the museum, was leaning from one side but it didn’t look like it was leaning at all.  In the microscope, I saw a tooth of that dinosaur and it was cool!  It ate other dinosaurs.  It was a meat eater.  It was a carnivore.  It had a big head and little arms. Its teeth were sharp!  That’s all for now.

    Camarasaurus looked a lot like Brachiosaurus , but they were slightly smaller. The Camarasaurus laid its eggs in lines instead of nests. I think this is interesting because if the eggs where all clumped together then...it would be easier for predators to get them. I could know if a Camarasaurus was female or male from the pelvis bone. If it was a female the side divots would be wide, and if it was a male the side divots would be narrower. You could tell how old it was when it died and how it died by seeing how big and wide the bones are.

    Tyrannosaurus rex has been my favorite dinosaur in this entire session. The tyrannosaurus rex was a carnivore and the head was HUGE his teeth are really big. And in the jars my favorite animal was the platypus. And me and my buddy (Iris) had liked most of the same dinosaurs. This is the BEST dinosaur lesson EVER!!. There are alligators in jars.

    Eric & Bagaceratops
    Gus & Majungasaurus
    Iris & T. rex
    Bagaceratops are related to Triceratops and Protoceratops . Bagaceratops do not have a frill. Bagaceratops are herbivores. Bagaceratops have shearing teeth. (they cut their food like scissors instead of chewing it) Bagaceratops means Small Horned Face. Baga means small and Ceratops means horned face. Bagaceratops are about one meter long, fifty centimeters tall, and fifty pounds. Bagaceratops belong to the Ceratopsia, a family of small beaked herbivores from the Cretaceous period.

    Majungasaurus was a Cretaceous predator known for its odd facial markings which were large bumps and a crest or horn in the center of its forehead. Majungasaurus once lived in Madagascar a small island off Africa, Majungasaurus was a primary predator. It used its strength speed and unusually large brain too find prey the Majungasaurus met it’s end at the end of the Cretaceous.

    T. rex is a carnivore, has feet like springs, and huge teeth for ripping meat. Tons of blood vessels and nerves go through foramina and around gums.

    Josh & Velociraptor
    Lillien & Edmontosaurus
    Lyman & Camarasaurus
    My favorite dinosaur is the Velociraptor some facts are. They lived 75-71 million years ago. I’m interested in Velociraptor because they're small and they were deadly. The Velociraptor had feathers not scales. Velociraptors did not fly. I also like them because they're meat eaters.
    The post-orbital recess in the Edmontosaurus ’ skull was probably formed for the convenience of sight, probably containing a nest of blood vessels that could regulate heat and waste from the eye. The recess could also contain lachrymal glands, and would help regulate the eye.
    Camarasaurus is a herbivore. It lived about 155-145 million years ago. Camarasaurus was a little smaller than a Brachiosaurus. It ate lot a lot of plants, lived in herds, and ate tropical plants. Resource: Dinosaurjungle.com
    Max & Triceratops
    M'Kinzy & T. rex
    Prescott & Allosaurus
    I do not like carnivores but I like herbivores. Triceratops is my favorite dinosaur. Stegosaurus is my second favorite dinosaur. I like herbivores since they don’t eat meat.
    T. rex has a relatively small brain capacity. The brain is about the size of an octopus. Most of the brain was devoted to smelling. This was about half the size of the thinking part. The teeth are sharp which means that it ate meat. The increased smelling probably allowed them to smell their prey. The teeth didn’t have chewing parts so they swallowed food whole. They walked and ran, but if they fell they couldn’t get up and they died.
    Allosaurus means different lizard. It was the t-rex off its time. It was different because it has horn things above its eye that they probably used it to keep the sun out of its eyes.
    Sam & Bagaceratops
    Sidney & Edmontosaurus
    Will & Tyrannosaurus rex
    Bagaceratops is special because of its size. It can fit on your finger. It is related to Triceratops . It is the smallest dinosaur I know about. I've only seen the skull of the Bagaceratops . Bagaceratops means "small-horned face". Bagaceratops lived in a place that is now Mongolia about 80 million years ago. It weighed as much as I do! It had a small horn on its nose and a small frill on its neck. It had a beak for grabbing food. Bagaceratops ate plants. I like Bagaceratops because of its size and weight.
    Edmontosaurus is a hadrosaur herbivore. It lived in the Cretaceous period. It resembles a platypus for it’s large beak. I like it because it was a herbivore. Herbivores are eco-friendly because they eat a renewable source and are almost the only diet of carnivores.
    T. rex was living in the Cretaceous period. It was a big carnivore. When it was young it had teeth for cutting meat [and Ryan] when its older its teeth where for crushing bones [Ryan's!]
    Ohio University
    Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine
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    Last updated:11/19/2015

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