BIOL/EES 2234 – Dinosaur Paleobiology

This course examines dinosaurs as objects of valid scientific inquiry and where appropriate, evaluates media hype surrounding them. Among topics examined in detail are: evolutionary relationships (including phylogeny, together with relationships to modern birds), ecology (including survey of other Mesozoic vertebrate groups, important invertebrates, plant life, biogeography), anatomy (hard and soft tissues), physiology (particularly but not limited to understanding dinosaur temperature regulatory physiology, paleoneurology, molecular traces, growth), behavior (locomotion, posture, reproduction, etc.), and how these animals are reconstructed and restored as living animals (including what is actually known from fossil evidence). This course highlights how applying basic biological principles is used to gain significant insights about what can actually be known about long extinct animals.