Canadian Dinosaurs (Wow Canada!) - Hardcover

Kelsey, Elin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1894379551 ISBN 13: 9781894379557

Publisher: Maple Tree Press, 2003

Synopsis

Explore the next frontier of dinosaur discovery.

Canada is one of the best places in the world to study dinosaurs, with bone beds coast to coast and dinosaur tracks dating back 250 million years. Canadian Dinosaurs is the first significant book on Canadian Dinosaurs for young readers.

New technology, such as CAT scans, has helped scientists make new discoveries and rethink old ones. Dinosaur research is full of new and changing ideas -- hear about exciting questions that dinosaur experts are debating.

Canadian Dinosaurs also delves into the history of dinosaur exploration. During the Dinosaur Rush at the beginning of the 20th century, paleontologists scrambled to find fossils in the Badlands of Alberta -- each hoping to claim new species for their own museums. Old techniques are contrasted with the cutting-edge research -- surprisingly, some things haven't changed at all! Whether with horse carts or helicopters, bone excavation is still a painstakingly slow process.

Amazing photographs and detailed sketches complement Elin Kelsey's up-to-the-minute research. This book will appeal to young readers, librarians, teachers, and parents alike.

Canadian Dinosaurs is part of Maple Tree Press's Wow Canada! series. Richly varied yet intrinsically connected, Wow Canada! books celebrate different aspects of the country's story. Together, they weave a rich tale as diverse and exciting as the country itself.

About this title

About the Author:

Elin Kelsey is an award-winning author and scientist. She has worked with the Canadian Museum of Nature, the Vancouver Aquarium and the Calgary Zoo as Director of Educational Programs. Her previous books include Finding Out About Dinosaurs and Finding Out About Whales.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

The Exciting World of Dinosaur Discovery

How many dinosaurs can you name? If you're a keen dinosaur enthusiast, you may be able to dazzle your friends with a list of twenty or more multi-syllabic mouthfuls. So far, 500 species of dinosaur have been discovered worldwide, but palaeontologists (scientists who study ancient life) are convinced that thousands and thousands of new kinds of dinosaurs will be identified in years to come. So, if you become a dinosaur scientist, there's a very good chance that you could one day discover a new dinosaur species.

Dinosaurs were not the big, slow, stupid animals we once thought they were. It's clear that they were a surprisingly diverse group. Some were as tiny as the birds you see on a city street; others were large enough to balance on a see-saw with a blue whale. They lived in jungles, in ice fields, or in bone-dry deserts; some may have hibernated or migrated. And there is growing evidence that many dinosaurs lived in large social groups, and that young dinosaurs relied on their parents' care for the first months, and maybe even years, of their lives.

Dinosaurs were as fascinating and different from one another as you are from a chipmunk or a walrus. New species of dinosaurs evolved and others disappeared many, many times during the 160 million years that we now call the age of dinosaurs. In fact, dinosaurs were on Earth at least forty times as long as humans have been here!

As you read this book, you'll see that ideas about dinosaurs are always changing and that palaeontologists often disagree about how certain dinosaurs lived. This makes sense when you consider that no one has ever seen a living dinosaur. Everything we think we know about dinosaurs is interpreted from the fossilized remains of their dead bodies or from trace fossils, fossils formed when a dinosaur was still alive, such as footprints, trackways, eggs, nests, or "poops."

Each new discovery provides a palaeontologist with a chance to question assumptions, even those upon which their own work is based. New technologies let them test new theories or look at familiar fossils in new ways. Look for the special profiles of researchers, dinosaurs, and trace-fossil finds scattered throughout this book to alert you to some "hot-off-the-press" dinosaur debates.

About this edition

• Publisher: Maple Tree Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1894379551
• ISBN 13: 9781894379557
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 96