Sp56E Bigger, Stronger, Faster: Dinosaurs and the Evolutionary Arms Race (Zoom; OLLI @ U of A)
Zoom | Available (Membership Required)
The natural world can be a very dangerous place, especially living in an evolving planet 66 to 220 million years ago. Over a period of nearly 160 million years, dinosaurs evolved from relatively small omnivores to fast carnivores with bigger, sharper teeth and claws and tremendous bite strength and to herbivores with defenses of more and bigger horns and spikes, thicker armor, and incredible size. Picture the velociraptors, T-rexes, stegosaurs, triceratops, ankylosaurs, and titanosaurs. Other survivor adaptations including behavior, camouflage coloration and intelligence are inferred from recent scientific discoveries. Other creatures which evolved and competed with the dinosaurs, the pterosaurs and crocodiles, grew to incredible sizes and ornate skeletal features which are still topics of much discussion. This course will examine many of these evolutionary changes that may or may not have been beneficial.
Mark Cocker is a scientist emeritus with the US Geological Survey. One of his interests concerns dinosaurs and recent advances in their scientific study. He led an OLLI class last summer with an introduction to dinosaurs “Dinosauria”.
*This registration item is ZOOM-only; there is not an in-person component to this course. It is offered and run by The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Arizona.*