Classifying dinosaurs!

Dinosaurs are divided into two groups based on hip structure, the Order Ornithischia and the Order Saurischia. Harry Seeley, a British scientist, divided the dinosaurs and named the two groups in 1887.

The Saurischian dinosaurs (Order Saurischia) were the ancestors of birds. They had a hip structure similar to that of lizards - the pubis bone pointed downwards and forwards. Saurischian skulls also have large, pronounced openings (antorbital fenestrae) between the eye socket and the nares (nostrils), much more so than the ornithischians. 

The Saurischians are divided into the sauropodomorpha, four-legged herbivores, and the theropods, two-legged carnivores. The oldest known dinosaurs (Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus) are Saurischians, and date from the mid- to late-Triassic period, about 230 million years ago.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/dinoclassification/Saurischian.html

The Ornithischian dinosaurs had a hip structure similar to that of birds, but they were not the ancestors of birds. The pubis bone (part of the structure of the hip) points downwards and toward the tail in Ornithischians, an opisthopubic condition (it points downwards and to the front in the Saurischians) and. The Ornithischian pelvis is wider than the Saurischian pelvis. This may have made Ornithischians more stable while moving.

Ornithischian skulls also had small, reduced openings (antorbital fenestrae) between the eye socket and the nares (nostrils), unlike saurischians.

Ornithischians outnumbered the Saurischians. The Ornithischians were herbivores (plant-eaters).

Major divisions of the Ornithischian dinosaurs:

Ornithopods (meaning "Bird feet"): Plant-eaters, Two-legged walk or two-legged and four-legged walk.

Thyreophorans (meaning "shield bearers"): Plant-eaters, Four-legged walk, Armored plates on the body.

Marginocephalians (meaning "fringed heads"): Plant-eaters, Horns or thick skulls.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/dinoclassification/Ornithischian.html

   

Choose three Saurischian dinosaurs and three Ornithischian dinosaurs. Make a drawing of each and answer the following questions:

- What is its name?

                                       - Was it a plant-eater or a meat-eater?

                                       - Did it live on land, in the air or in the water?