Creatures of Old – All about dinosaurs

Creatures of Old is a non-fiction story about dinosaurs with interesting facts for mid to upper elementary. Explaining the study of paleontology and basic dinosaur facts this is a fun book for science and reading in elementary lessons.

Sample Text from Creatures of Old – All about dinosaurs

The sun had just set, and the forest was in darkness. A huge lizard-like creature was hiding in the bushes. It was still as a statue, from the tip of its snout to the curve of its tail. Only its sharp eyes moved, darting left and right. Its nostrils twitched as it smelled dinner. A juicy little insect!
The giant lizard got ready to pounce when . . .

Suddenly, the ground rumbled and shook. Animals were running in all directions. The poor lizard-creature was almost run over. Angrily, it turned back to see what was causing all the confusion. GULP!
A terrifying beast was charging down the forest path. It was taller than the tallest trees, and had skin as rough as rock.
Oh no! Was the hunter about to become the prey?

This is NOT a story.
Such creatures actually lived on Earth a long, long time ago. A time when there were no humans or dogs or birds.
Instead there were mammoths, dinosaurs, giant insects, and even ferocious fish-like creatures in the oceans. There were also strange-looking plants different from those we have today.

How do we know this?
Because of science. A very special branch of science called ‘Palaeontology’ (pronounced pay-lee-on- tol-oji). Palaeontology is the study of plants and animals that lived on Earth many, many years ago. And paleontologists are scientists who study this science.
Just as the ruins of an old palace can tell us things about a king from the past (like how grand his throne was, or what his favourite weapon was), there are clues deep inside the earth that can tell us many things about ancient animals.
The clues come in many forms—bones, footprints, eggs, and sometimes even the body of an entire animal preserved in stone!

<End of sample text>

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