1. Education     Psittacosaurus (Pavel Riha)   Psittacosaurus
(Greek for "parrot lizard"); pronounced sih-tack-oh-SORE-us
Scrublands and deserts of Asia  Historical Period:  Early to
middle Cretaceous (120 to 100 million years ago)  Size and
Weight:  About 3 to 6 feet long and 50 to 175 pounds, depending
on species    Distinguishing Characteristics:  Short, blunt head
with curved beak; small horns on cheeks  About Psittacosaurus:
As you may have guessed from its name, Greek for "parrot
lizard," what set Psittacosaurus apart from other dinosaurs of
the Cretaceous period was its distinctly un-dinosaur-like head.
This plant-eater's curved beak made it somewhat reminiscent of a
parrot, but otherwise, its squat noggin was distinctly tortoise-
like. (One shouldn't draw too much from this analogy;
Psittacosaurus, and other ornithischian dinosaurs like it,
weren't directly ancestral to modern birds, an honor that
belongs to saurischian dinosaurs.)  Although it's often depicted
in a four-legged posture, paleontologi