Unit 13 Lesson 1 Completion Activity
Name ____________________________________________
In this activity, you will use evidence from the fossil record to
help determine what T.rex (a dinosaur) may have tasted like –
that is if we could have cooked and eaten him!
Terms List
Here are some terms that are used in the activity that
you need to be familiar with
 Amniotic egg: [am knee ott ick] - an egg that can be laid on land due to
the presence of a fluid-filled amniotic sac that cushions and protects the
developing embryo
 Bipedal: [bi pea dull] - describing an animal that typically walks on two
legs.
 Bony skeleton: a skeleton formed from hardened bone, not cartilage.
 Common ancestor: an ancestor shared by two or more lineages.
 Genealogy: [gee knee all oh gee] - a family history.
 Hypothesis: [hi poth i sis] - a testable statement about the natural world
that can be used to explain an observation and or make an inference.
 Lineage: [lin ee edge] - any continuous line of descent; those organisms
connected by heredity from ancestor to descendent.
 Most recent common ancestor: the most recently shared ancestor of
two or more lineages.
 Quadrupedal: [qwa drew pea dull] - describing an animal that typically
walks on four legs.
 Tetrapod: [tet tra pod] - an animal having four limbs for terrestrial
locomotion.
 Vertebrate: an animal having a back bone or spinal column.
Now let’s go to the following web address to access the clues to answer our
essential question. – WHAT DID T.REX TASTE LIKE?
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/Trex/navigation.html
As you go through each of the first FOUR(4) folders included in this
project, please answer the questions in the space provided below.
Folder 1
1. What are the names of the three major groups of all living organisms?
2. Eukaryota includes what kinds of organisms?
3. Bacteria includes what kinds of organisms?
4. Archaea includes what kinds of organisms?
What are the two big ideas that will be important to keep in mind throughout the
rest of the module?
1.
Unit 13 Lesson 1 Completion Activity
Name ____________________________________________
2.
Record your answers to the following questions.
1. Lineage might have been a new term for you. Which is the best definition for
lineage?
2. Within this folder, you compared the history of a single family to the history of
all life. What are some things that they have in common?
Folder 2
1. Which two organisms have their own distinct history?
2. Which organisms share a part of their history?
3. What was the common ancestor they shared?
4. What is the most recent ancestor of the parrot and tuna?
5. Which green dot that represents the most recent common ancestor for
organism A and organism C?
6. Which green dot that represents the most recent common ancestor for
organism B and organism C?
7. Which part of the diagram represents the shared history of organisms A, B
and C?
8. Which part of the diagram that represents the unique history of organism B?
Folder 3
1. Which is more closely related to caimans—hares or parrots?
a) Hares
b) Parrots
2. Which is the common ancestor for all of them?
3. Why did we draw the cladogram this way?
Unit 13 Lesson 1 Completion Activity
Name ____________________________________________
4. Each of the letters on the cladogram represents the appearance of a certain
inherited feature. List the inherited features, in order?
A. ________________________________________
B. ________________________________________
C. ________________________________________
D. ________________________________________
E. ________________________________________
F. ________________________________________
5. What is the common feature that all of these organisms share?
6. However, there are other features that are shared by only certain lineages.
For example, frogs, humans, hares, caimans, and parrots all have four
limbs. Therefore, they are all __________________
7. Which feature do humans, hares, caimans, and parrots share that the other
three lineages did not inherit?
a) Bony skeleton
b) Hair
c) Amniotic egg
8. Which of the vertebrates has no skull openings other than those for the eyes
and nostrils?
9. Which two vertebrates belong to a group whose common ancestor had one
additional opening on the middle side of the skull?
10. Which two vertebrates belong to a group whose common ancestor had two
additional skull openings, an upper one and a lower one?
11. How do we know the skull openings were present in the common ancestors
if we can't see them today?
12. All animals have openings in their skulls for __________ and __________.
13.
Some tetrapods have openings in front of their eyes. Which of the
tetrapods have this opening?
a) Hare and crocodile
b) Frog and hare
c) Bird and crocodile
Unit 13 Lesson 1 Completion Activity
Name ____________________________________________
Folder 4
One important question to keep in mind is, “Which features are inherited
from a common ancestor?” Now that we have examined a few features, it
is time to think about what they can reveal about how T. rex is related to
the other vertebrates.
1. Take a look at the data you have entered in your table. Where might T. rex
might fit in the cladogram?
2. Some features, like bony skeleton and four limbs, can help us rule out shark
and tuna as close relatives. Can hair tell us anything about T. rex? Why
or why not?
3. What if we look at the skull opening in front of the eye; can we narrow down
our search to two vertebrate lineages that might be most closely related to
T. rex?
a) No, this feature does not help
b) Yes, the human and hare lineages
c) Yes, the caiman and parrot lineages
4. Was T. rex bipedal like parrots, or quadrupedal like caimans?
a) Bipedal
b) Quadrupedal
c) We can't tell
5. How many fingers does each animal have?
caiman
parrot
Number of
Fingers
6. Which of these finger conditions did T. rex inherit?
a) All five fingers intact
b) Loss of the fourth and fifth finger
c) We can't tell
T. rex
Unit 13 Lesson 1 Completion Activity
Name ____________________________________________
Features Table
As you explore this folder, fill in the data tables below, using a +, -, or ?.
shark
tuna
frog
human
hare
caiman
parrot
vertebrae
bony
skeleton
four limbs
amniotic
egg
hair
opening in
front of
eye
heel
bipedal
4th and 5th finger lost
7. Take a look at your table now that it's complete. Based on the features we
have examined, whom can we hypothesize that T. rex is most closely
related to?
a) Parrots
b) Caimans
So back to our essential question:
What did T. rex taste like?
a) Chicken
b) Roast beef
b) Tuna
T.rex
Unit 13 Lesson 1 Completion Activity
Name ____________________________________________
What evidence did we use to determine that T. rex tasted like chicken?
a) T. rex's heel bone does not have a bump
b) T. rex is bipedal
c) T. rex has a reduced number of fingers
d) a and b
e) b and c
Because T. rex was bipedal and had a reduced number of fingers, we can
infer:
a) that T. rex was more closely related to birds than to crocodiles
b) that T. rex and birds inherited these features from a common ancestor
c) that T. rex probably shares more features with birds than with other
vertebrates
d) all of the above
e) none of the above