_______________________________

	_______________________________

3. From which quarry does the rock come? _______________________________

4. What famous fossil was discovered in this quarry? _______________________________

5. This famous fossil is the link between two animal groups. What are they?

6. What is the age of the rock in the floor tiles (period name)? _______________________________

7. What types of fossils are shown in this display case? (List four.)

    ________________________

    ________________________

    ________________________

    ________________________

8.  Fossils in the floor tiles

As you walk through the museum, carefully examine the floor tiles. You should go to the lower level where you will have a greater selection from which to choose. SKETCH at least one good example of each of the following:

belemnite

ammonite

sponge in cross-section (will look circular)

sponge in vertical section (will look cup shaped)

tiny white bryozoans

II. A Walk Through Time in Georgia

Go to the right when you reach the rotunda. The exhibit hall "A Walk Through Time in Georgia" will be on your right. Examine the time line on the wall before entering.

1. Approximately when did the Universe form? ________________________

2. Approximately when did the Earth form? ________________________

3. Approximately when did chemicals arrange into forms capable of reproduction (first living cells)?

 ________________________

III. Cosmos Theater - Big Bang

Before entering the main exhibit hall, see the short movie, Big Bang, in the Cosmos Theater.

1. In the past, was the moon closer to the Earth, or farther away from the Earth? (Circle one.)

IV. Enter the second theater "Understanding the Evidence of the Big Bang".

After viewing the video, answer the following questions.

1. Explain the Doppler Effect.

2. What color of light has the longest wavelength? ________________________

3. What color of light has the shortest wavelength? ________________________

4. What is Hubble's Law?

V. Exhibit hall

A. The Piedmont

1. What is the thickness of the Earth's crust in northern Georgia? ________________________

2. What is the age of the Earth's crust in northern Georgia? ________________________

3. What is the approximate age of the rock of Stone Mountain? ________________________

B. The Appalachian Mountains

1. When did they arise the last time? ________________________

2. How high were they? ________________________

C. The Chemistry of Life See the television show on life and examine the displays.

1. Living organisms do several things. What are they? (Include at least 3 things)

    ________________________

    ________________________

    ________________________

2. Long chains of amino acids are called what? ________________________

3. Approximately how many different amino acids are found in most living systems? ________________________

4. Name the two self-replicating molecules.

5. How did the first proto-cell form? ________________________

6. What does "DNA" stand for? ________________________

7. All living cells are composed of three things. Tell what they are, and the function of each.

    ________________________

    ________________________

    ________________________

8. Plant cells have three main parts:

     ________________________

    ________________________

    ________________________

9. How much oxygen is produced by photosynthesis each day?  ________________________

10. Approximately how much of Earth's oxygen is produced by the plankton in the oceans?  __________

11. Why are the chlorophyll molecules in plants green?  ________________________

VI. Life Develops in the Ancient Seas

1. When did trilobites first appear? (Give period name.)  ________________________

2. How long were trilobites in existence on Earth?  ________________________

3. How many trilobite species were there?  ________________________

4. What were the first animals with true eyes?  ________________________

5. What were the first animals with a notochord?  ________________________

6. The first vertebrates on Earth were fishes called  ________________________

7. When did the first corals appear? (Give period name)  ________________________

8. When did the jawless fish exist? (Give period name)  ________________________

9. What was the major predator in Silurian seas? (Hint - look up to see one).

 ________________________

10. When did the first simple plants adapt to life on land? (Give period name)

11. A biological modification of __________________ led to the formation of jaws.

12. What were the major predators in the Devonian seas?  ________________________

13. Sharks and rays have no bones. Their skeletons are made of  ________________________

14. Name three types of plants in the Devonian.

     ________________________

     ________________________

     ________________________

15. What type of fossils were dominant in the Mississippian? (Name the five that are listed.)

     ________________________

     ________________________

     ________________________

     ________________________

     ________________________

See the exhibit "What is a fossil" on the interactive television. See the description of "Structural Advances in Life Forms".

16. Name some early adaptations.  ________________________

17. What are some of the most successful life forms (lasting nearly 1 billion years)?  ________________________

VII. Plate Tectonics Theater (Continents in Collision)

1. What is the rate of spreading of the sea floor?  ________________________

2. What is Lystrosaurus?  ________________________

3. Will the Pacific Ocean widen or narrow?  ________________________

VIII. Life Adapts to Land

1.  What was the paleolatitude of Georgia during the Pennsylvanian and Permian? (Be sure to tell whether it was north or south of the equator, too.)  ________________________

A. Vertebrates Adapt to Land

1. The four legged vertebrates that first moved onto land were adaptations of fish called __________________.

2. What was "special" about them?  ________________________

3. How big were the amphibians?  ________________________

4. What was Eryops?  ________________________

5. What was the new type of egg that developed as an advancement from amphibians to reptiles?  ________________________

6. Stem reptiles were ancestral to the ____________________ and the ____________________.

B. Insects Adapt to Land

1. From which type of animal did the insects develop?  ________________________

C. Plant life adapts to land

1. How did seedless plants reproduce?  ________________________

2. When did gymnosperms appear?  ________________________

3. Do gymnosperms reproduce with seeds or spores?  ________________________

4. What were the dominant trees of the Pennsylvanian tropical forest?  ________________________

5. a. What was Lepidodendron?  ________________________

    b. Approximately how many species were there?  ________________________

6. What was another genus of club moss?  ________________________

7. What is the age of the richest coal deposits on Earth? (Give period name)  ________________________

IX. Dinosaur Hall

A. The Ruling Dinosaurs

1. What was the climate of central Georgia like when "dinosaurs ruled"?  ________________________

2. What was the paleolatitude when "dinosaurs ruled"? (Be sure to tell whether it was north or south of the equator).

 ________________________

3. The stem reptiles gave rise to which two groups? (Give examples of each).

    Group                        Examples

a. _________________     ___________________________________

b. _________________     ___________________________________    

B. The Triassic Period

1. What group gave rise to the first mammals?  ________________________

2. How did mammals survive when dinosaurs ruled?  ________________________

3. What is the evidence that mammals were nocturnal?  ________________________

4. What did the mammals eat?  ________________________

5. How did herbivorous (vegetarian) dinosaurs grind tough leaves?  ________________________

6. What is the name of the group of flying reptiles?  ________________________

7. What is the name of the group of marine reptiles?  ________________________

C. Dinosaur footprint

1. Examine the dinosaur footprint. How large is it?  ________________________

2. How large was Allosaurus?  ________________________

D. Archaeopteryx

1. What does the name "Archaeopteryx" mean?  ________________________

E. The Jurassic Period

1. How big was Apatosaurus?  ________________________

2.  What did it weigh?  ________________________

F. Video on Stegosaurus

1. What were the plates on its back used for?  ________________________

2. What was the size of the Stegosaurus brain?  ________________________

G. Ankylosaur

1. What was the function of the bony plates and spikes on its back?  ________________________

2. What was the function of the "club" on its tail?  ________________________

H. The Cretaceous Period

1. What does "pterodactyl" mean?  ________________________

2. What happened to world climate in the mid-Cretaceous?  ________________________

3. What happened to the large dinosaurs?  ________________________

I. Hadrosaurs

1. What does the word "hadrosaur" mean?  ________________________

2. What does it refer to on the hadrosaur?  ________________________

J. Hadrosaur nest  

1. What is the evidence that baby hadrosaurs remained in the nest?

 ________________________________________________

K. Georgia fossils Examine the fossil specimens.

1. What type(s) of dinosaurs were found in Georgia?  ________________________

2. Who discovered the dinosaurs in Georgia?  ________________________

3. Where (as specifically as possible) were the Georgia dinosaur bones found?  ________________________

4. How old are they?  ________________________

5. If you wanted to examine Cretaceous sedimentary deposits in Georgia, where in general would you find them?

L. After the dinosaur extinction - The Paleocene Epoch

1. How big were the dominant birds of the Paleocene?  ________________________

2. Did they fly?  ________________________

3. Describe their beaks and legs.  ________________________

4. What did they eat?  ________________________

Pass through the Okefenokee Swamp and turn right.

X. The Rise of Birds and Mammals

A. Humankind arrives in Georgia

1. Where did the earliest members of the human family arise?  ________________________

2. When did humans reach Europe?  ________________________

3. What blocked their eastward part of migration?  ________________________

4. How long did it take for migration to reach this point?  ________________________

5. When did humans reach Georgia?  ________________________

6. What epoch contains the remains of the earliest known members of the human family?  ________________________

B. Megatherium

1. What was Megatherium?  ________________________

2. When did it live? (Give epoch.)  ________________________

3. Which commonly known animals is it related to?  ________________________

4. How long and heavy was it?  ________________________

C. The Pliocene and Pleistocene Epochs

1. What was Smilodon?  ________________________

2. When did the last Ice Age occur?  ________________________

3. Were animals larger or smaller then? (Circle one.)

4. What caused the extinction of the megafauna? (Give two things.)

 ________________________

 ________________________

D. Oligocene and Miocene

1. What are the dominant characteristics of the ungulates?  ________________________

2. When did the ungulates appear? (Give epoch.)  ________________________

3. When were the first grasses present? (Give epoch.)  ________________________

E. Eocene

1. What is the longest surviving line of mammals?  ________________________

The "long-necked" four-legged (quadrupedal) dinosaur in the rotunda is the largest dinosaur that has ever been found and described.   The specimen is 126 feet long and would have weighed more than 100 tons. 

1.  What is the name of the "long-necked" dinosaur? ________________________

2.  Examine the skull of the "long-necked" dinosaur.  What do you think it ate?  Was it a plant eater or a meat eater? ________________________

3. Where was it found?  ________________________

The "two-legged" (bipedal) dinosaur is the biggest two-legged creature ever been found and described.  This dinosaur is 12 feet tall, about 45 feet long, and would have weighed more than 8 tons.

4.  What is the name of the bipedal dinosaur?  ________________________

5.  Examine its skull.  Was it a plant eater or a meat eater?  ________________________

6. Where was it found?  ________________________

Now look up. There are two types of flying reptiles in the rotunda area.

7. The flying reptile with the smaller, more delicate skull has an unusual mouth. The mouth is like a scoop and contains about 500 bristle-like teeth that filtered small organisms from the water. Its wingspan was 52 inches across.

What is its name?  ________________________

8. The larger flying reptile with the more robust skull and larger wingspan (as much as 19 feet across) was found in Brazil.

What is its name?  ________________________

9.  What other fossil organisms can you find in the rotunda?

  ________________________

  ________________________

  ________________________

This page created by Pamela J. W. Gore
Georgia Perimeter College, Clarkston, GA