All 13 questions
Prefer reading to playing? Here is every question of this quiz — answers come with your score.
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Dinosaurs are traditionally split into two groups by the structure of their hips. Modern birds evolved from members of which group?
- Ornithischia (bird-hipped)
- Saurischia (lizard-hipped)
- Thyreophora
- Sauropodomorpha
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In which interval of the Mesozoic did Tyrannosaurus rex actually live?
- Early Triassic
- Late Jurassic
- Late Cretaceous
- Middle Jurassic
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The real Velociraptor was roughly the size of a turkey, far smaller than the human-sized raptors shown in many films.
- True
- False
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Which dinosaur holds the distinction of being the first to receive a formal scientific name, in 1824, before the word 'dinosaur' even existed?
- Iguanodon
- Tyrannosaurus rex
- Megalosaurus
- Hylaeosaurus
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Pterosaurs, the flying reptiles such as Pteranodon, are classified as a group of dinosaurs.
- True
- False
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The mass extinction that ended the age of non-avian dinosaurs is linked to a massive buried impact crater. Where is it located?
- Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
- Deccan Plateau, India
- Sudbury Basin, Canada
- Siberia, Russia
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Modern birds are considered living dinosaurs because they descend from small feathered theropods; scientists therefore call birds ___ dinosaurs, in contrast to all the extinct lineages.
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Dimetrodon, the sail-backed creature often bundled into dinosaur toy sets, was not a dinosaur at all. To which group is it most closely related?
- Crocodiles
- Lizards
- Mammals
- Amphibians
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How many horns give Triceratops its name, and where is the longest pair located?
- Three horns, the long pair on the snout
- Five horns, arranged along the frill
- Two horns, both on the snout
- Three horns, the long pair above the eyes
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The bony plates running along the back of Stegosaurus are most widely hypothesised by palaeontologists to have served primarily what function?
- Thermoregulation and display
- Body armour for defence
- Filtering food from water
- Anchoring wings for gliding
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The defensive spikes on the tail of Stegosaurus are informally nicknamed the ___ , after a Gary Larson cartoon.
-
The transitional fossil Archaeopteryx, blending reptilian and bird-like features, was preserved in rocks of which geological period?
- Late Cretaceous
- Late Permian
- Late Jurassic
- Early Triassic
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The non-avian dinosaurs went extinct roughly 145 million years ago, at the boundary between the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
- True
- False