Re:

[Tom Holtz <tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov>]

>Hello, we are two sixth graders at Burley Glenwood Elem. in Port Orchard,
>Washington. We wanted to know if you know who was the first person to dig
>up a Spinosaurus & the Protoceratops.

Both of these were found be teams of dinosaur hunters in the 1920s.
Spinosaurus was discovered by a German expedition in Egypt, found by a team
under the direction of Ernst Stromer.  Protoceratops was found by the
American Museum of Natural History's Central Asiatic Expedition in
Mongolia, under the direction of Roy Chapman Andrews.

>If you do, was it a full skeloton,

No complete skeleton of Spinosaurus was ever found, and what was discovered
was destroyed by Allied bombing in World War II.

Protoceratops is known from dozens of complete skeletons, and many more
fragmentary specimens.  In terms of numbers, it may some day surpass
Coelophysis, Maiasaura, or some of the other dinosaurs known from lots of
specimens.

>when was it found, where is it located, is the Spinosaurus & the
>Protoceratops on display at a museum,

Spinosaurus is, of course, no longer on display.

Protoceratops skeletons are on display at many museums.

>does the museum have an e-mail
>address, & how did the Spinosaurus & the Protoceratops protect itself?

Spinosaurs had some pretty big teeth, a crocodile-like snout, and big claws
on its hands - these were probably its main weapons.

Protoceratops has a big, strong beak (one fossil was found with its beak
around the arm of a Velociraptor which was attacking it).  Also, like many
animals today, Protoceratops may have protected itself with numbers (but
there is no evidence of herding in this dinosaur yet).

                                
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.                                   
tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov
Vertebrate Paleontologist in Exile                  Phone:      703-648-5280
U.S. Geological Survey                                FAX:      703-648-5420
Branch of Paleontology & Stratigraphy
MS 970 National Center
Reston, VA  22092
U.S.A.