2013-2014 Undergraduate and Graduate Catalog (without addenda) 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2013-2014 Undergraduate and Graduate Catalog (without addenda) [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

STS 2323 Dinosaurs: Resurrecting an Extinct Species

3 Credits
Large fossil bones have fascinated people since ancient times, and after 1842 some of these fossils were described as belonging to the taxum Dinosauria. Since then, new discoveries and scientific techniques have led to a series of changes in both the views of scientists and the public as to what dinosaurs were, what groups they were related to, and how they behaved and interacted with their environments. This course will look at the views of fossils in ancient Greece and Rome, and also in some modern tribal societies. Most emphasis will be on the changing views of paleontology, geology, biology and evolution from the Enlightenment period to the present. All major dinosaur groups will be discussed, as well as their physiology, relationships to other animals, behavior and ecology, as scientific ideas evolve and new discoveries are made. Finally, how scientists reconstruct dinosaurs through images, sculpture and mountings for the public and popular culture’s fascination with dinosaurs will be discussed.

Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.