You Can't See a Dodo at the Zoo

You Can't See a Dodo at the Zoo — page 3 — INTRODUCTION Once upon a time there were a lot of dodo birds Now there are none Dodos are extinct Many other creatures are also extinct Some died out many years ago We know about them because we have found bones or fossils Often we don't know what happened to these creatures we don't know why they did not survive Other living things died out more recently We know about them because people wrote descriptions or drew pictures of them We even have photographs of some that died out after cameras were invented An animal is officially extinct when it has not been seen for fifty years Every category of living thing has experienced extinction Insects birds reptiles mammals amphibians plants there are many animals from each group that are no longer here on earth Right now living things are dying out all the time Some animals are classified as endangered This means that few of them are still living and those that are alive are having trouble surviving They may soon become extinct

You Can't See a Dodo at the Zoo — page 4 — Oh you can't see a dodo at the zoo You can look until your face is turning blue Even if it makes mad you Or very very sad You still can't see a dodo at the zoo Oh you can't see a woolly mammoth at the zoo It doesn't really matter what you do They lived in days of old When it was very very No you can't see a woolly mammoth at the zoo cold can't see a saber toothed tiger at the zoo Oh you Because there aren't three or even two In spite of scary teeth Every one has come to grief No there is no saber toothed tiger at the zoo

You Can't See a Dodo at the Zoo — page 5 — Oh you can't see a tyrannosaurus at the zoo Just as well because he would surely frighten you If he took one little bite You would disappear from sight No there's no tyrannosaurus at the Zoo

You Can't See a Dodo at the Zoo — page 6 — Chapter 13 Dinosaurs Dinosaurs lived so long ago that no person ever saw one There are lots of pictures of dinosaurs But these are just guesses made by artists and scientists They may be good guesses but they are guesses nonetheless All the information that scientists and artists have for their drawings comes from fossils Fossils are the remains or impressions of plants and animals that have been preserved in the earth's crust Scientists who study fossils are called paleontologists Paleontologists have found dinosaur bones dinosaur eggs dinosaur footprints and dinosaur poop which scientists call dung The fossils came from dinosaurs that were covered by mud millions of years ago and little by little turned into stone Usually the soft parts like skin eyes and insides rotted away Only the hard parts turned into fossils It's not clear how dung could become fossilized since it was certainly soft Dino Dung 8,000,000 BC

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