1. Aidan’s lotus project
Dinosaurs and fossils

2. The Eromanga sea
100 million years ago, there was a inland sea called the Eromanga sea and it had many predators and animals. It was a dangerous place to be.
Now you can dig them up in Richmond and Hughenden. My family and I found a lot of fossils.
Digging for fossils, Richmond

3. What was in the Eromanga sea?
The only thing left of them is their inner vertebrae which is fossilised.
Another animal was the ammonite. It got to as big as a tractor tyre and to as little as a 5 cent piece.
There were lots of little things in the Eromanga sea. In the Eromanga sea one of these was called Belemnites. They were about 1 to 10 cm long.
This is my belemnite and ammonite

4. After the inland sea
After the sea retreated in the late Cretaceous period, the world moved dramatically. If you lived in Australia you could walk to South America and then China. After that, large conifer forests popped up all around the world. Then the dinosaurs evolved.

5. The Cretaceous period
The dinosaurs ruled the forests. Most of the sauropod bones you find are the legs and surrounding parts of the animal as lots of sauropods got stuck in the mud and were eaten by other dinosaurs.
In Winton there is evidence of a dinosaur stampede, the only recorded dinosaur stampede in the world.
Stampede, Lark Quarry, QLD
Fun fact - The cretaceous period lasted from 100 million years ago to 65 million years ago.
Matilda’s leg and pelvis bone, Age of Dinosaurs Museum, Winton

6. Where dinosaurs live and eat
The dinosaurs also lived in the sea. They got really big, up to 30m in length. They also had big teeth and tails.
Some moved really fast, up to 70 kph. Most of them ate fish or other dinosaurs.
before
after
Kronosauras Korner, Richmond

7. This is a photo of Banjo at the Age of Dinosaurs museum, Winton
Where dinosaurs live
The land that the dinosaurs lived in were the conifer forests.
This is a photo of Banjo at the Age of Dinosaurs museum, Winton
Because there was lots of food and water, the meat eating dinosaurs had lots of food which were the plant eating dinosaurs.

8. Dinosaurs dying
The dinosaurs died out after a meteor hit the coast of Mexico. Upon the impact of the meteor, rocks were flung up into space. When the rocks re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, the friction was so high they were on fire. A giant fire occurred and killed most of the dinosaurs. An ice age happened and killed the last few dinosaurs.

9. Bone extraction
Dinosaur bones are very fragile because they’re not completely turned to stone. The dinosaur bone takes a long time to get out of the rock. There are many tools used to get the bone out of the rock. Some tools have big vibrations and some take just two grains of rock off at a time.
Bone extraction, Age of Dinosaurs Museum, Winton

10. Bone extraction
At Winton, one three week dig can produce ten years of work for eight people. Winton has the most productive dinosaur bone extraction plant in the world.
Bone extraction, Age of Dinosaurs Museum, Winton