Dinosaurs: Sinosauropteryx

1. Sinosauropteryx is scientifically important for which of the following reasons?

It is the earliest known bird

It was the first dinosaur ever discovered

It is the smallest known dinosaur

It was the first dinosaur known to have feathers

2. Sinosauropteryx was discovered by a Chinese farmer in which year?

1948

1967

1996

2010

3. Sinosauropteryx lived about how many millions of years ago?

170 million years ago

120 million years ago

75 million years ago

17 million years ago

4. Sinosauropteryx was about the same size as which animal?

A mouse

A chicken

A tiger

A rhinoceros

5. Both Sinosauropteryx and Tyrannosaurus belonged to a group of dinosaurs scientists call by this name.

Ornithischians

Dromaeosaurs

Deinonychosaurians

Coelurosaurs

6. An animal that lacks feathers even though it had a feathered ancestor can be described as which of the following?

Preemptively scaly

Primarily flightless

Secondarily featherless

Suddenly salubrious

7. Initially, some scientists argued that Sinosauropteryx's feathers were actually made of what substance?

Collagen

Chitin

Vinyl

Hair

8. Scientists were able to reconstruct the color of Sinosauropteryx's feathers by using a microscope to examine these tiny, pigment-bearing structures?

Ribosomes

Melanosomes

Chloroplasts

Freckles

9. True or false. Most scientists believe Sinosauropteryx was an ancestor of living birds.

True

False

10. True or false. Scientists believe that any animal with feathers descended from the first animals with feathers.

True

False