After all of the different shapes and
sizes of dinosaurs that you saw in the first module,
it shouldn't come as a surprise that the answer is E, all of the above.
Not every dinosaur ate all these things, but different groups of dinosaurs
often specialized in consuming one or two of these different food sources,
as well as other animals like mammals, amphibians, and so on.
When we try to understand the diet or
behavior of dinosaurs, we often look at adaptations in modern animals.
When it comes to eating some of the most informative parts to look at are the teeth
and jaws.
We can see general trends in the sizes and
shapes of teeth in certain groups of living animals and use our
knowledge of these patterns to infer what different dinosaurs would have eaten.
With me, I have skulls from a variety of carnivorous and herbivorous animals.
Carnivores like this wolf, have sharp teeth for piercing and tearing flesh.
You can see the canine here as well as pointed teeth that extend to
the back of the jaw.
They also have sharp claws for gripping prey.
Herbivores on the other hand, have flat teeth for grinding vegetable matter.
Like you can see in this horse skull here.
Omnivore's like this bear, eat meat and plant matter, so
they have a mixture of sharp and flat teeth.
Take a look inside of your own mouth.
You'll notice you also have a mixture of flat and sharp teeth.
That means you’re an omnivore as well.
Birds don’t have teeth but birds of prey like hawks, owls and eagles,
as well as vultures, have sharp recurve beaks, sharp talons and very strong feet.