🦴 Explorer quiz pack
Ages 9–12 · Name: ______________________ · Score: ____ / 15
1. Which period of the Mesozoic Era came first?
- ☐ A. Jurassic
- ☐ B. Cretaceous
- ☐ C. Triassic
- ☐ D. Quaternary
2. About how long ago did the non-bird dinosaurs die out?
- ☐ A. 6,600 years ago
- ☐ B. 66 million years ago
- ☐ C. 660 million years ago
- ☐ D. 6 million years ago
3. Which of these animals is NOT a dinosaur?
- ☐ A. Velociraptor
- ☐ B. Dimetrodon
- ☐ C. Brachiosaurus
- ☐ D. Iguanodon
4. Mosasaurs were most closely related to which living animals?
- ☐ A. Dolphins
- ☐ B. Sharks
- ☐ C. Lizards and snakes
- ☐ D. Crocodiles
5. What is a coprolite?
- ☐ A. Fossilised poo
- ☐ B. A type of dinosaur tooth
- ☐ C. A volcanic rock
- ☐ D. A baby dinosaur
6. Which clue tells scientists the most about what a dinosaur ate?
- ☐ A. The colour of its fossil bones
- ☐ B. How old the rock is
- ☐ C. Which museum it is in
- ☐ D. The shape of its teeth
7. Which group of dinosaurs had a bony frill and a parrot-like beak?
- ☐ A. Ceratopsians
- ☐ B. Sauropods
- ☐ C. Theropods
- ☐ D. Stegosaurs
8. Which features do birds share with theropod dinosaurs?
- ☐ A. Gills
- ☐ B. A wishbone and feathers
- ☐ C. Fur
- ☐ D. A hard shell
9. What is a gastrolith?
- ☐ A. A dinosaur egg
- ☐ B. A fossil footprint
- ☐ C. A stone swallowed by an animal
- ☐ D. A broken tooth
10. Spinosaurus is thought to have eaten mainly what?
- ☐ A. Leaves
- ☐ B. Fish
- ☐ C. Insects
- ☐ D. Seeds
11. What was the supercontinent called when the first dinosaurs lived?
- ☐ A. Laramidia
- ☐ B. Atlantis
- ☐ C. Asia
- ☐ D. Pangaea
12. Ichthyosaurs looked most like which modern animal?
- ☐ A. Turtle
- ☐ B. Crab
- ☐ C. Penguin
- ☐ D. Dolphin
13. Which of these was the biggest?
- ☐ A. Argentinosaurus
- ☐ B. Velociraptor
- ☐ C. Stegosaurus
- ☐ D. Triceratops
14. Pachycephalosaurs are best known for having what?
- ☐ A. Tail clubs
- ☐ B. Thick, domed skulls
- ☐ C. Wings
- ☐ D. Long necks
15. Where did the asteroid that ended the age of dinosaurs hit?
- ☐ A. Australia
- ☐ B. Iceland
- ☐ C. The Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico
- ☐ D. Antarctica
Answer key
- C — The order is Triassic, then Jurassic, then Cretaceous, and the first dinosaurs appeared in the Late Triassic.
- B — The end-Cretaceous mass extinction happened about 66 million years ago.
- B — Dimetrodon was a synapsid that lived before the dinosaurs and is more closely related to mammals.
- C — Mosasaurs were giant sea-going squamates, part of the same group as lizards and snakes.
- A — Coprolites are fossil droppings, and the bits inside them show what an animal ate.
- D — Sharp, serrated teeth point to meat-eating, while leaf-shaped or grinding teeth point to plant-eating.
- A — Ceratopsians like Triceratops and Protoceratops had beaks and frills, and many had horns.
- B — Many theropods had feathers and a wishbone, two of the clues showing that birds evolved from them.
- C — Gastroliths are stomach stones; some dinosaurs, like Psittacosaurus, swallowed them, perhaps to help mash food.
- B — Its long, crocodile-like snout and cone-shaped teeth were good for catching fish, so it was largely a piscivore.
- D — In the Triassic all the main landmasses were joined in one supercontinent called Pangaea.
- D — Ichthyosaurs evolved a dolphin-like shape with a tail fin and back fin, even though they were reptiles.
- A — Argentinosaurus was a titanosaur sauropod around 30 metres long, one of the largest land animals ever.
- B — Pachycephalosaurs had very thick bony domes on their heads, which they may have used in contests.
- C — The buried Chicxulub crater, about 180 km wide, lies under the Yucatán Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico.