### person | scientist:

Paleontologist
* Many paleontologists are also evolutionary biologists
  - believe birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs
  - end up working in other geology fields
* Most paleontologists are faculty members in the geology departments of colleges and universities
  - begin their interest with a fascination for fossils and field collecting
* Most paleontologists believe evolution
  - that it was a carcharodontosaurid
* Most paleontologists consider animals
  - carnivorous dinosaurs
  - determine ages
* Most paleontologists discover dinosaurs
  - theropods
  - find employment at colleges and universities or with petroleum companies
* Most paleontologists hold fossilize jaws
  - say there's no question about the origin of birds
  - speak of five major episodes that occurred millions of years ago
  - spend a lot of time in the field to collect the fossils that they study
  - study all sorts of life forms, including plants and even single-cell organisms
  - work at universities and museums
* Some paleontologists believe that dinosaurs began to die out long before the end
  - early humans had an advantage over other animals
  - contend that birds are the living descendents of ancient dinosaurs
* Some paleontologists describe marine reptiles
* Some paleontologists discover complete fossil skulls
  - do study the fossil record of humans and their relatives
  - find bones
  - identify trilobites
  - know ages
  - make scientific contributions
  - suggest that turtle shells evolved from the dermal shells of parareptiles
* Some paleontologists use evolutionary patterns
* accept Allosaurus as an active predator of large animals.
* actually spend far more time in the laboratory than in the field.
* announce discoveries.
* are people who conduct research on ancient life
  - scientist who study fossils
* are scientists who study fossils, the remains of ancient organisms
  - the history of life on Earth
  - use fossils to study life in the past
  - still amazed by the extraordinary history of the pterosaurs
  - the scientists who study dinosaurs and fossils
  - well aware that fossil proboscideans are filled with biology
  - it type of therizinosaur previously found only in Asia
* believe that the skeleton is nearly completely intact
  - they evolve into chordates, which was more in the tertiary period
* build fires with natural vegetation.
* can also estimate dinosaur gait and speed from some footprint track ways
  - do a number of things depending on their interests
* can now detect subtle shifts in the composition of the ecosystems through time
  - trace the origins of whales through a series of fossil discoveries
* classify and identify fossils based on their shapes and appearance
  - the first bipedal primates as hominids
* compare new fossil finds to other fossils and to living animals.
* complain that laws against fossil theft have lagged behind the times.
* conduct field trips, work with large fossil collections, and publish their research.
* depend on dry conditions to fleck away sedimentary rock with delicate tools.
  - the best model from the real world to use as an analogy for the body part
* do a lot of research to decide where to dig for dinosaurs.
* estimate the age of fossils using techniques such as carbon dating.
* even learn why plants and animals become extinct.
* explore the early history of cetacean evolution.
* face a minor dilemma with dinosaur tracks compared to skeletal remains
  - tasks
* find accumulation
  - lots of plant fossils
* frequently analyze the results of past experiments
  - are involved in studies of evolutionary biology
* generally have a major in either geology or biology.
* have a sense of humor
  - little concrete proof on how the extinct species handled nesting
* have to be extremely careful when digging up fossils
  - build skeletons out of pieces of bone that they find in the ground
  - identify the fossil from remains such as shells, teeth, or bones
  - keep careful records of the fossils they find
  - work very long to dig out bones
* hunt dinosaurs.
* identify genus.
* includes arms
  - body substances
  - cell membranes
  - cells
  - corpi
  - cytoplasm
  - heads
  - human bodies
  - material bodies
  - necks
  - nuclei
  - personality
  - plasma membranes
  - sections
  - vacuoles
* infer that whales evolve d from land-dwelling animals, for instance.
* investigate sites all over the world.
* know what they looked like and what they ate.
* learn about climate change in prehistoric times by studying fossils and sediments.
* look at fossil records
  - fossils and try to decide where in the fossil record they go
  - on such evidence as good grounds for inferring the extinction of an animal
* make discoveries.
* name new dinosaurs based upon their interesting characteristics.
* need specimens.
* now have evidence that dinosaurs lived on all of the continents.
* often find teeth from extinct animals.
* read books.
* realize that many people find dinosaurs fascinating and enjoy fossil hunting.
* say it it is one of the richest fossil deposits ever found in the United States.
* seek to ability.
* specialize in five main areas.
* study ancestors
  - life during past geological periods as known from fossil remains
  - modern plants and animals
  - fossilized remains of organisms that lived long ago
* study the fossils of dinosuars
  - extinct animals, including dinosaurs
  - record of life on Earth left as fossils
  - two types of fossils
  - virtually every other kind of fossil, including human bones
* take interest.
* think that the aetosaurs roamed the higher, drier upland areas.
* to understand extinction.
* uncover specimens.
* use anatomical and morphological homologies to trace lineages
  - fossilized pollen grains and radio carbon dating to chart climate
  - fossils to describe the nature and development of life through geologic time
  - geologic maps to find out where the best rock are to find fossils in
* use the difference to divide dinosaurs into two large groups
  - fossilized remains of plants and animals to figure out how they lived
  - information to help understand how extinctions occur
* usually specialize in a particular research area.
+ Acrocanthosaurus: Theropods :: Cretaceous dinosaurs
  * Acrocanthosaurus' was a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Early Cretaceous period. Its classification is uncertain. It was originally classified as a spinosaurid, because the spines on its back resembled those of 'Spinosaurus'. However, 'Acrocanthosaurus' is now classified as a carnosaur. Most paleontologists believe that it was a carcharodontosaurid. Acrocanthosaurus' was 39 feet long, almost as large as 'Tyrannosaurus rex'. It was the largest theropod in North America before the evolution of the tyrannosaurids. There is a famous trackway in Paluxy, Texas that shows an 'Acrocanthosaurus' stalking its prey, a 'Paluxysaurus'.