A Tyrannosaurus rex's closest relative is a

Question

A.  Komodo dragon.
B.  bullfrog.
C.  squirrel.
D.  chicken.

Clarify Question
· What is the key concept addressed by the question?
· What type of thinking is required?

Gather Content
· What do you already know about reptile-bird relationships?

Choose Answer
· Given what you now know, what information and/or problem solving approach is most likely to produce the correct answer?

Reflect on Process
· Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?

Answer 1

D.  chicken.

Clarify Question
· What is the key concept addressed by the question?
        o This question addresses reptile-bird relationships.
· What type of thinking is required?
        o This question is asking you to take what you already know and apply it to this unfamiliar situation.

Gather Content
· What do you already know about reptile-bird relationships?
        o The first known bird was Archaeopteryx, a 150-million-year-old fossil. It had a skull with teeth, and very few of its bones were fused to one another. Its bones are thought to have been solid, not hollow like a bird’s. Also, it had a long, reptilian tail and no enlarged breastbone such as modern birds use to anchor flight muscles. Finally, the skeletal structure of the forelimbs was nearly identical to those of the ropods.
        o Because of its many dinosaur features, several Archaeopteryx fossils in which the feathers had not been preserved were originally misclassified as a small theropod dinosaur. However, it in fact had feathers on its wings and tail.
        o Almost all paleontologists have concluded that Archaeopteryx is the direct descendant of dinosaurs—indeed, that today’s birds are “feathered dinosaurs.”
        o The dinosaur Caudipteryx, for example, is clearly intermediate between Archaeopteryx and dinosaurs, having large feathers on its tail and arms but also many features of dinosaurs like Velociraptor.

Choose Answer
· Given what you now know, what information and/or problem solving approach is most likely to produce the correct answer?
        o The closest extant relative to the dinosaurs are the birds.
        o Therefore the chicken is the correct option.

Reflect on Process
· Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
        o The question required you to take what you already know and apply it to this unfamiliar situation.
        o Did you recognize that birds evolved from a group of dinosaurs?