BSCI 392— Biology of Extinct Animals

Course Description
A survey of extinct animals that have few, if any, direct living descendants. The principles governing the functional design of animals will be used to infer life styles for extinct, and frequently bizarre, organisms (3 credits).

Grade Method: REG/P-F/AUD.

Prerequisite:

• BSCI106

General Lecture Topics:

• Assumptions and principles of paleobiology
• Evolutionary history of the Earth
• Scaling and animal form-function relationships
• Biomechanics of locomotion
• Biomechanics of feeding
• Trace fossils
• Trophic relationships
• Reconstructions of important extinct groups

Notes:

• Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BSCI392 or ZOOL396.
• Formerly ZOOL 396.