Dinosaurs have since roamed the earth for almost 200 million years. Even though most dinosaurs went extinct some of their relatives are still alive in the present day. The fossils that archaeologists have dug up over the years have helped us to understand them a bit better as well as allowing us to see how they looked.
Our planet is a miracle. It’s a home for so many species, and humans think they are entitled to everything it provides to us. But, if we look back in history, we will see that the people are only a small part of it, and we don’t even deserve to feel like we are better than any of the other species that once lived here.
Can you imagine some prehistoric animal howling through your neighborhood? Even though we can’t even think about that, there was a time when the people weren’t even present on the Earth, to build buildings, roads, factories, and to create social and ethical norms.
Dinosaurs are an important chain in the Earth’s history, and people are still fascinated by them, even though we can only fantasize about how big they were and how they lived on this planet. Maybe “Jurassic World” gives us some insight, but it’s just a movie, and the history is what is relevant in this case.
Now here are some interesting facts you probably did not know about dinosaurs:
Mammals and dinosaurs were neighbors
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Dinosaurs existed at the same time as mammals. Yes, they were neighbors however most of the mammals at the time were quite small animals that live underground. This helped them to survive the ice age when it happened. The ice age is the event that caused the mass extinction of the remaining dinosaurs.
Relatives alive today
This next point is going to shock you! Remember the T-Rex, the mighty dinosaur that roamed the Earth? Well, the closest living relative to it in the modern-day is the chicken. Scientists discovered this gold nugget of knowledge while making an evolutionary tree. Just remember the next time you look at a chicken that you are looking at the descendant of the great Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Little dinosaurs
A bit surprising isn’t it how we tend to think of dinosaurs as huge beasts. There were a lot of small dinosaurs during their time period being so small made it hard for them to survive the elements so when they died it is likely the bones were quite fragile and turned to dust before they could be discovered; contrary to the bigger dinosaurs with stronger bones that are still being unearthed by archeologists to this very day.
Fearless mammals
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The repenomamus a small badger size animal that existed during this period was quite the fearless creature. This speculation is widely believed because of their fossils that seem to contain baby dinosaurs in their stomachs. Eating a baby dinosaur is one thing and fighting the dinosaur mother is another hence the repenomamus being dubbed the most fearless animal of that era.
Misrepresentation in media
Sorry to disappoint you Jurassic Park but velociraptors were almost the same size as a turkey and not as big as they’re usually made out to be in films. According to what scientists have discovered they may have looked quite similar to modern-day turkey with the only exception bigger in size. It is often speculated that a velociraptor came with a full set of colorful feathers and sharp talons.
Outnumbered
Herbivore dinosaurs greatly outnumbered the carnivore dinosaurs by a lot. Despite the representation on media it can be seen and wildlife’s today that the number of meat Eaters is severely overwhelmed by that of plant Eaters. It keeps nature in balance somehow.
Some dinosaurs had feathers
Source: theconversation.com
Keeping with their place in the timeline of evolution most dinosaurs had feathers seeing as that they are the ancestors of modern-day birds. As mentioned above the velociraptor is the most misrepresented dinosaur is it was fully covered in feathers making it look like a rather strange bird. Some scientists have put forward that the T-Rex may have heard feathers as well. They proposed that the small arms it is often said to have possessed were actually very small wins.
Their era is known as “The Age of Dinosaurs”
They lived in a time known as Mesozoic Era, but people also love to refer to it as “The Age of Dinosaurs”. They were present on the Earth for millions of years, and they are extinct for 66 million years already. That’s a fascinating timeline, and according to the historical facts, they were present on the Earth for about 165 million years. And that’s a lot of time. Another interesting thing about Mesozoic Era is that three different periods went by, including Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. There were different breeds of dinosaurs during that era. And some of the most popular kinds, like Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus, never met during that time, because the first one was extinct when the second one appeared on the Earth.
No one knows how many species they were
Until today, there are proofs for at least 700 different species of dinosaurs, but maybe that number is bigger. Some of us will never find out how many of them were rolling around back then. The historical examinations continue, and maybe there are still some hidden proofs of dino species we aren’t even aware of.
The origin of the word “dinosaurs” is Greek
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Just like many names in science, the correct terms come either from the Latin or Greek language, or their combination. This one is completely Greek, and comes from the words “deinos” which means “terrible”, and “sauros”, which is the Greek word for “lizard”. And that explains them correctly. Or they weren’t that terrible as the paleontologist Richard Owen thought when giving them this name? Maybe they were some polite lizards, but we can never know, our times never crossed, at any point in history.
Their brains were small
Scientists put forward that the smallest dinosaur ever to exist was no smarter than an ostrich. It was the carnivores that had bigger brains as more brainpower was needed to hunt for prey that’s a bigger brain as compared to plant-eating dinosaurs. It is speculated that plant-eating dinosaurs with very small brains may as well have been plants themselves.
Dinosaurs lived everywhere
Dinosaur bones have been found on all continents of the Earth. This shows that there were a lot of them over 700 species of dinosaurs are said to have been in existence at the time. The earth was in a different state 125 million years ago that it is probable that they lived everywhere.
But, it’s completely wrong to believe that they were ruling the world, since they shared the planet with so many species back then, and yes, there were animals that were that big too. It was a completely different planet that we know today, but surely things were changing due to the conditions and unfortunate events.
A blue whale is larger than any dinosaur to ever exist
The Argentinosaurus is said to be the largest dinosaur ever to be discovered in 1987. The evidence put forward suggested that it was more than 120 ft long and may have weighed a whooping at times. Despite it being that enormous the blue world tops the height going on to grow over 100 feet in length and weighing up to as much as 191 tons.
Now here is the best part for all you dino lovers! Planning an event with a dinosaur theme or you just want to be a dinosaur for a day or more look no further than onlydinosaurs.com as they have amazing visible legs dinosaurs costume. Be sure to check them out.
Read Also:
10 Deadliest Carnivorous Dinosaurs
