Who doesn’t love dinosaurs? Whether or not it’s visiting a museum to study extra about fossils or heading to the movie show for a Jurassic-themed blockbuster, youngsters (and grown-ups) can’t get sufficient. However what do we actually find out about dinosaurs? We’ve put collectively this record of unbelievable dinosaur information to share along with your college students. You gained’t imagine a few of these tidbits!
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Unimaginable Dinosaur Info for Youngsters
1. The phrase “dinosaur” is Greek for “horrible lizard.”
Coined by English paleontologist Richard Owen in 1842, the phrase dinosaur means “horrible lizard,” but it surely’s not as a result of they’re scary—it refers to their huge measurement!
2. Dinosaurs roamed the Earth for about 165 million years.
So regardless of changing into extinct on the finish of the Cretaceous interval, dinosaurs have to be thought of a hit to have survived that lengthy!
3. Dinosaurs turned extinct about 65.5 million years in the past.
This is likely one of the most well-known dinosaur information for youths. Nobody is precisely certain why the dinosaurs died out nearly 66 million years in the past. Some imagine the local weather turned too sizzling or chilly for them to exist. Others say that an enormous asteroid collided with Earth—if this was true, why did some species, together with the ancestors of frogs, turtles, and even birds, survive? It’s a thriller! Watch this video to discover a number of the theories.
4. Child tyrannosaurs had been most likely cute.
The ferocious grownup T-Rex was the king of dinosaurs, however re-creations of their tiny hatchlings by the American Museum of Pure Historical past are surprisingly cute!
5. The most important land-based dinosaur was the Argentinosaurus huinculensis.
Extremely, this large dinosaur might attain as much as 130 ft in size! Watch this video concerning the greatest dino ever!
6. The primary dinosaur to be named was the Megalosaurus.
The Megalosaurus was found by William Buckland, a professor of geology on the College of Oxford. Try this video concerning the discovery of the primary dinosaur in 1824.
7. The oldest dinosaur is the Eoraptor.
We’re nonetheless studying about dinosaurs, however the oldest one recognized to us proper now is the Eoraptor, an omnivore that roamed the Earth round 230 million years in the past.
8. Paleontologists research dinosaurs.
Paleontologists discover historic life-forms, from the microscopic to Megalosaurus.
9. Dinosaur fossils had been first found within the early 1800s.
William Buckland shared his fossil findings with the Geological Society of London in 1824, 200 years in the past.
10. Scientists imagine that birds descended from dinosaurs.
Over generations and generations, dinosaurs developed into birds. Paleontologists additionally say that dinosaurs had been cousins of lizards, snakes, and crocodiles! Watch this video from Nationwide Geographic to reply the query: Are Birds Trendy-Day Dinosaurs?
11. Many grownup dinosaurs had feathers.
The most important recognized feathered dinosaur was the Yutyrannus huali (watch this to study extra about this super-predator!). This cousin of the T-Rex was 30 ft lengthy and doubtless relied on its feathers to remain heat. Plenty of different dinosaurs had feathers and a few dinosaurs used their feathers to fly.
12. Dinosaurs and people didn’t coexist.
People didn’t seem on Earth till about 65 million years after dinosaurs turned extinct.
13. Not all dinosaurs had been carnivores.
Most of the greatest dinosaurs, together with the Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus, had been herbivores, or plant-eaters. To guard themselves from their carnivorous counterparts, many had pure weapons corresponding to spikes on their tails or horns as a defend.
14. Dinosaur fossils have been discovered on each continent.
Dinosaurs lived all around the world in various kinds of environments and climates, from dry, sandy deserts to lush tropical forests.
15. We drink the identical water dinosaurs did.
Billions of years in the past, water arrived on Earth, probably as ice on meteorites that crashed into the brand new planet. These identical water molecules proceed to evaporate, condense into clouds, and precipitate. This implies we’re all ingesting the identical water the dinosaurs did tens of millions of years in the past!
16. Pterodactyls usually are not dinosaurs.
These flying reptiles had loads in widespread with dinosaurs and their existence overlapped, however they don’t seem to be dinosaurs by definition. They had been, nonetheless, the primary reptiles able to flying!
17. Some dinosaurs had been smaller than a rooster.
The Microraptor weighed simply over 2 kilos (1 kg) and was about 2.5 ft lengthy!
18. Dinosaurs had been colourful.
Whereas scientists have believed that dinosaurs had been grey, inexperienced, or brown, new analysis has revealed that they had been seemingly extra colourful than that! For instance, the Sinosauropteryx was a turkey-size dino that was most likely orange and white with a striped tail. Paleontologists additionally suppose the Caihong juji was rainbow-colored with shiny, iridescent feathers on its chest and neck!
19. Dinosaurs laid eggs.
Most dinosaurs laid eggs and constructed giant nests to guard their infants and maintain them collectively.
20. Younger dinosaurs grew quick.
Remarkably, dinosaurs reached their full measurement, or maturity, in nearly seven or eight years!
21. Some dinosaurs lived to 100 years previous.
It’s believed that some giant dinosaurs, like sauropods, might dwell for 50 to 100 years.
22. Not all dinosaurs existed on the identical time.
For tens of millions of years, new dinosaur species emerged whereas others went extinct at totally different instances. By the point the T-Rex was alive, the Stegosaurus was already a fossil!
23. Dinosaurs obtained sick.
Think about a sauropod sneezing! There may be proof that non-avian dinosaurs caught respiratory diseases and developed signs like runny noses and hacking coughs.
24. Dinosaurs liked to snuggle.
One of the crucial stunning dinosaur information for youths was that these creatures snuggled. Paleontologists found the fossilized skeletons, from round 70 million years in the past, of three younger Oviraptorosaurs who had been huddled collectively. It’s potential that they had been roosting collectively for cover or to remain heat.
25. We haven’t found all of the dinosaur species but.
Science is all about looking for solutions to questions after which asking much more questions! New species of dinosaurs are discovered on a regular basis, giving us a clearer glimpse into what life was like for them. It additionally helps us higher perceive the species we’ve already discovered. Isn’t science superb?
26. Dinosaur fossils usually are not precise bones.
Most dinosaur fossils are imprints in rock or rock fabricated from minerals with out the unique bone materials.
27. Dinosaurs are divided into two predominant teams.
Scientists have divided dinosaurs into Ornithischia, or bird-hipped dinosaurs, and Saurischia, or lizard-hipped dinosaurs. The classification is predicated on how the dinosaurs’ hip bones had been formed.
28. Ichthyosaurus was not a dinosaur.
Ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs weren’t dinosaurs, they had been marine reptiles.
29. Dinosaurs went extinct in a short time.
Scientists imagine it was a catastrophic occasion, like an asteroid or volcanic eruptions that modified the local weather, that killed the dinosaurs as a result of they disappeared shortly from the fossil document.
30. Dinosaurs first developed when all of Earth’s land was one giant continent.
Within the Triassic interval, dinosaurs developed when all of the continents had been one giant continent referred to as Pangaea.
31. Temperatures through the Jurassic interval had been hotter than they’re right this moment.
Temperatures had been hotter and wetter through the Jurassic interval, which was when stegosaurus and different giant, plant-eating sauropods walked the Earth.
32. The Tyrannosaurus rex didn’t chew its meals.
T-Rex, a dinosaur recognized for its tooth (which had been about 6 inches lengthy and serrated), couldn’t chew so it swallowed meals in giant chunks.
33. Dinosaurs weren’t cold-blooded.
Scientists have debated this, however since 2014, scientists have usually accepted that dinosaurs had been mesotherms, or someplace between cold- and warm-blooded.
34. Mary Anning was the primary feminine paleontologist.
Mary Anning lived in England within the 1800s and located the fossils of an ichthyosaurus by her home when she was simply 12 years previous. It was the primary of many fossil discoveries, and Anning turned well-known by dinosaur collectors.
35. Most dinosaur bones have been present in China and the US.
Dinosaur species have been present in 51 nations and Antarctica, with probably the most fossils being present in China and the US.
36. A lately found dinosaur is known as after a Norse god.
A newly found dinosaur, lokiceratops, has an enormous, blade-like horn and was present in Montana in 2019. It was found by two professors and was named for the Norse god Loki.
37. Mammals fought dinosaurs.
When dinosaurs and mammals lived on the identical time, mammals fought again when dinos tried to eat them.
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