Pacific Science Center
Bringing science to life.
PacSci-Doku: “Eating Dinosaur”
By Dennis Schatz – Senior Advisor
Do you Sudoku? It’s one of the hottest number games around! Well, here’s a twist we think you’ll love. We call it PacSci-Doku. Can you guess why? Here’s how it works. Instead of filling in the blanks with numbers, we use letters. Hidden in one of the columns or rows is the answer to a science question. You’ll find information about the answer on the answer tab below.
The question in this edition is:
What dinosaur will many people be eating this holiday season?
To find the answer, complete this PacSci-Doku using the following nine letters:
E U Y s S t T R K
Puzzle Difficulty: Medium
The Answer
The question in this edition is:
What dinosaur will many people be eating this holiday season?
The answer: Turkeys
All birds are related to dinosaurs, but not all dinosaurs are related to birds. Birds are ancestors to the theropod dinosaurs, which we can tell from a number of common features. Feathers are the best known connection between the dinosaurs and birds, but another common feature is the wishbone that you find in all holiday turkeys. Allosaurus and Velociraptor also had wishbones. Another common feature is the hollow bones of turkeys and related dinosaurs. The hollow bones make birds lighter, so they can fly. Hollow bones made dinosaurs lighter, so they could run faster and be more agile. Read this Washington Post article and watch the embedded video to see the dissection of a modern dinosaur — and enjoy your dinosaur when you sit down to your holiday feast.