The Story of

the Three
Dinosaurs

Created By QM Learning 2012

Once upon a time there were three dinosaurs who lived
beside a river. They were good friends.
 The smallest of the dinosaurs was Minmi. She was an
ankylosaur and had lots of spikes poking out all over her
back to protect her.
 The middle sized
dinosaur was a
Muttaburrasaurus,
called Mutt for short.
He was very heavy and
had lots of flat teeth
for grinding spiky
plants.

He could stand on his back legs to make himself

look even bigger!
George was the largest of the three friends. He
was an enormous titanosaur with a very long neck.
He could reach leaves at the very tops of trees.
 These
plants are
delicious!

All three dinosaurs were herbivores, so they

would spend the day munching plants.
One day, there was a bush
fire and lots of the plants
on their side of the river
were burnt. The dinosaurs
were hungry and scared.
 They needed to cross over the river but it was very
deep and fast flowing. There was only one spot where
some rocks made a bridge.
 But they couldn’t cross there either!
A very large and very mean carnivorous dinosaur had
decided the rocky bridge belonged to him. This dinosaur
ate…
… other dinosaurs!!!

His name was Banjo.

After a while, the smallest dinosaur was so hungry
he had to find some plants to eat. He saw Banjo
run off to catch another dinosaur.

“ I am so hungry that I
will have to try and
cross the rocky bridge”.
 Come back Minmi!

Please don’t
go!

crunch

crunch

His friends begged him not to go but he set off over

the rocky bridge.
When he was half way across, Banjo noticed the little dinosaur
and called out in his big booming voice…

crunch

crunch Who’s that

crunching over
my bridge!
 Little Minmi was shaking in his spikes!
“It’s me, little Minmi. I’m very little. I’m not even a mouthful for
you so please may I cross the river?” Minmi begged

Oh okay. I’ve had

my breakfast
today. But watch
out because I will
need lunch!

So Minmi hurried across the bridge.

The next day Mutt had really bad pains in his tummy.
“I am so hungry. I will have to be brave like Minmi and
cross the bridge” he said to George.

Run
fast
Mutt!
Mutt saw that Banjo was having a nap. “Now is my
chance,” he thought.
 He started to cross the bridge

Crunch
Crunch
Banjo heard the crunching and jumped up!

Who’s that
crunching over
my bridge!
Mutt stood up as tall
as he could and puffed
Honk!!
out his chest so he
looked VERY big. He
made a loud sound.
 Banjo stopped. He looked at Mutt’s size.

Well you are

lucky I’ve had
breakfast and
can’t be bothered
fighting you. But
watch out
because I will
find you for my
lunch!

He was actually a
bully and wasn’t really
that brave!
George was lonely AND hungry. He decided to cross the
bridge to join his friends.
He started to cross the bridge.

Crunch
Crunch
Banjo was in a bad mood. This time he was not
going to let anyone cross his bridge!

Who’s that
crunching over
MY bridge!!!
George could not run fast. George did not have
spikes on his back. But George was enormous. He
had a very long and very heavy tail. And he had a
big booming voice.
George looked Banjo straight in the eyes and
roared…

You are a bully and

we are tired of you
bullying us!!!
And with that George swung his enormous tail around
and knocked Banjo off his feet and into the fast
flowing river.
The three friends were so happy to be
together again. There was lots to eat
and Banjo never bullied them again.
 Australian Dinosaurs
We know about dinosaurs because of the fossilised bones and
teeth that have been found. The dinosaurs in this story are
based on ones that have been discovered in Australia.

Minmi Minmi paravertebra is a small armoured dinosaur

(ankylosaur) which would have been about the size of
a yearling cow. Minmi is named after Minmi Crossing,
where the first fossil was discovered in the 1960s.
qm website link

George George and another titanosaur sauropod called

Cooper represent the largest dinosaurs to have
ever been found in Australia. Based on the lengths
of their leg bones compared with sauropods found
overseas, the total body length of these dinosaurs to
is thought to be 24 to 26m.
qm website link

Above images copyright QM. All other images courtesy clker.com (creative commons)
 Australian Dinosaurs

Mutt Muttaburrasaurus was named after the town of

Muttaburra in central Queensland. The first fossil
bone was discovered by a grazier. Mutt was about 7m
long, and probably ate plants such as ferns, cycads
and conifers. qm website link

Banjo Banjo or Australovenator is the most complete meat-

eating dinosaur skeleton yet found in Australia. This
dinosaur was about 5 metres long, 1.5 metres high at
the hip and was many times bigger than Velociraptor.
Some theropods, such as T. rex, had small
forelegs but Banjo had strong forelegs each with
three large slashing claws. Banjo is
named after the famous Australian poet Banjo
Patterson who wrote Waltzing Matilda in Winton, the
place where Banjo was found.
qm website link

Images slides 28/29 copyright QM. Clipart images courtesy clker.com (creative commons) ppt. Narinda Sandry Creative Commons BY NC SA