paraphrase and rewrite the attached file in your own words

A Visit to the Raymond Alf Museum of Paleontology

Introduction

The Raymond Alf Museum is an accredited location in which paleontology can be learnt as it presents a wide range of paleontological exhibits which can be immensely helpful to individuals seeking to gain historical knowledge of facts regarding early life. The visit to this museum was an incredible learning experience as it provided me with the opportunity to expand my knowledge of various aspects regarding early life. Through the visit I was able to learn a lot about some of the animals which have become extinct like the dinosaurs. These are animals which I have only been able to read in books and watch in fiction movies. The visit to the museum gives one a kind of experience that brings the reality of about existence of the animals to life. The visit to the museum provided an opportunity to learn important facts about the evolution of various animals. Many of the modern day animals including mammals and camels have been around for millions of years and have undergone immense evolution to become the creatures that we see in the modern times.

Revelations of the paleontological exhibits

The visit to the museum can be considered to be an interesting learning experience as a result of the large number of paleontological exhibits present in the museum. The past life in the world remains a mystery and with each discovery of an exhibit that can be added into the museum, new knowledge is gained and some past theories proven right or rejected following the discovery. The process of the evolution of species can be clearly understood with an extensive study of the various exhibits in the museum. The tour of the museum becomes a lifetime experience as well as a learning opportunity for any individual visiting the museum.

Extensive studies are performed on many of the discoveries which are added to the museum every time. The exhibits can be able to tell a story of early and past lives of many creatures which have been through to have become extinct. The process, through which the extinction occurred, although it has not been accurately documented, can be understood with paleontological evidence. This makes interesting some of the things which have remained unclear for many years. The museum presents an historical perspective through which one can explore various facts to understand the evolution of life among many animals which existed years ago.

In the historical study of life, many contradictions exist as a result of the lack of an accurate way through which the findings can be analyzed to determine the meaning. This remains the cause of theories on the evolution of life being formulated. Some fossils which have been found of dinosaurs, for example, have elicited debates of whether some dinosaurs were small or the fossils belonged to animals which died young. Despite the available technologies, the assessment of the exhibits of animals must be based on the scientific understanding of the species through the study of animals which are currently living, and which appear similar to those that have been discovered.

Figure 1facts on the revelations

Dinosaurs

Paleontological excavation commonly elicits the thoughts of large dinosaur fossils but the evidence available in the paleontological museum indicates that not all the dinosaurs were gigantic. While they might have been the largest organisms to have existed during the time, there were some small species of the organism. There is still a significant doubt regarding this theory as it remains extremely difficult to determine whether the small fossils belonged to smaller organisms or young dinosaurs. From the currently available evidence, it can be concluded that there were indeed smaller dinosaurs. This theory will continue to be held until a time when contradicting evidence is available to discredit the theory.

Figure 2 evidence of small organisms existing alongside the large dinosaurs

Evolution of species

By the end of the museum visit I was able to understand some critical information regarding the evolution of various animals. Through the fossils which have been discovered in different places, the evolution of the species can be studies in seeking to understand how some have adapted to the environmental changes which enabled then to survive, while others became extinct. The changes to adapt to the environment result in evolution of the species as they become better suited for survival within an environment which is changing (Magnuson-Ford and Otto, 2012). The evolution is thus influenced by the desire for the animals to survive and become suited to the environmental changes. One of the perfect examples of evolution observed in the museum is that of human beings.

An important reason for making assessment of the evolution process remains understanding of the survival of the species and the manner in which animals have been able to adapt to changing environments. Dinosaurs remain some of the best known species which became extinct, and have been extensively studied. Man on the other had has evolved over time to adapt to the environment as can be seen by the changes in the fossils of early man available within the museum. The process however, took many years as it remains a relatively slow process. The modern shape of human being skull is thought to have occurred about one million years ago.

Figure 3 the evolution of mankind

Diets of extinct animals

One of the main reasons which have been thought to have contributed to the extinction of animals is the lack of food to sustain some of the large organisms. Through conducting studies of the arrangement of the teeth of the fossils which have been found, the diet of many ancient animals can be understood. This visit enabled me to learn how to determine the diet of an animal through assessment of its teeth arrangement (Merceron, et al 2010). Elongated canines are an indication of a meat eating animal, while their lack indicates that the animal could be herbivorous. With such an understanding, many of the extinct animals have been established to have lacked food as one of the main cause of their demise.

I learnt that since the animals might not be available, the study of characteristic features like teeth arrangement is critical in determining the diet of the animal. Many of the descriptions provided for the extinct animals come from the assessment of the fossils found in different location. Important features can be developed for the animals to be classified following the assessment of the bones retrieved from the fossils. The characterization of these animals using the structures of the bones enables them to be clearly understood. The knowledge of the classification process as well as the results of the classification was an important lesson learnt from the visit.

Figure 4 Jaws of Animals used to study their diet

Marine Life of the Mesozoic

The dinosaurs are described as the main organisms which ruled the land during the Mesozoic period and they were reptiles. The visit brought about the understanding that despite the dominance of the dinosaurs, there were many other reptiles which existed but many of them live in water (Rafferty, 2010). Marine life was thus filled with many kinds of reptiles. According to the information presented within the museum, the reptiles mainly evolved on land and opted to reside in marine life as a way of minimizing the competition for food that existed on land. By sharing the in=habitat with other animals other than the large land reptiles, the sea reptiles quickly adapted to the environment and were able to survive and escape the harsh environmental conditions of the land. Many of the modern day reptiles still reside in water and their adaptation for survival might have developed during the Mesozoic period.

Figure 5 Marine Life of the Mesozoic

References

Magnuson-Ford, K., & Otto, S. P. (2012). Linking the investigations of character evolution and species diversification. The American Naturalist, 180(2), 225-245.

Merceron, G., Escarguel, G., Angibault, J. M., & Verheyden-Tixier, H. (2010). Can dental microwear textures record inter-individual dietary variations?. PLoS One, 5(3), e9542.

Rafferty, J. P. (2010). The Paleozoic era: Diversification of plant and animal life. New York, NY: Britannica Educational Pub. in association with Rosen Educational Services.