Dinosaurs roamed the earth for more than 200 million years. They lived during the Mesozoic Era, also known as the Age of Reptiles. They went extinct around 65 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period. The reason for their extinction was climate change which happened due to an asteroid hit.
- Dinosaurs were first discovered in the early year of 1842 by a British scientist, and by that year, the science of dinosaurs began.
- The word dinosaur does not really mean terrible-lizard. It actually means “fearfully- great lizard.”
- Dinosaurs were reptiles, and it’s been estimated that some species were cold-blooded and some were warm-blooded.
- The Argentinosaurus is the largest dinosaurs species that measures about 40 meters (131 feet)from tale to head. Whereas it was the heaviest dinasour and is believed that it weighed around 90 to 100 metric tons(99 to 100 tons).
- The smallest dinosaur is believed to be a small bird-like dinosaur with 100 sharp teeth. About 99 million years ago, this small bird-like dinosaur got stuck in a gob of tree, which later got hardened into an amber. It was named Oculudentavis khaungraae and weighed around just 2 grams.
- The profession of studying dinosaurs is called Paleontology, and the person who studies dinosaurs is called a paleontologist.
- Dinosaurs lived on all continents of the planet. They lived about 230 million years ago during the Triassic period. At first, all the continents were arranged together and were a single supercontinent called Pangea. The supercontinent was slowly broke down during the livelihood of dinosaurs.
- Humans live on planet earth for the last 2 million years. While the dinosaurs lived for 165 million years.
- There are about 1047 species of dinosaurs that are recognized and named till 2008. However, paleontologists believe that there might be about 3400 genera that existed and are still to be discovered.
- The early dinosaurs were carnivores and use to rely on the meat of other animals and dinosaurs. Later omnivores and herbivores dinosaurs appeared.
- The biggest dinosaur, Argentinosaurus, was herbivores and use to eat tons of green plants every day.
- The asteroid which made dinosaurs extinct was named as Chicxulub asteroid. It was about the size of 11 to 81(7 to 81 miles) kilometer in diameter.
- Its believed that the asteroid was hit in Yucatanthe peninsula of Mexico 65.5 million years ago.
- Chicxulub asteroid was an asteroid or other celestial body some 11 to 81 kilometers (7 to 50 mi) in diameter.
- The Sauroposeidon was the tallest dinosaur; they had extremely long necks, which were held vertically and were able to reach the tallest trees. They were massive and probably grew18.5 (60 ft) in height.
- It’s estimated that sauropods dinosaurs had a lifespan of about 300 years. They use to live for so long due to their large bodies and slow metabolism. Whereas the Apatosaurus and Diplodocus dinosaurs use to live for 70 or 80 years.
- Tyrannosaurus rex species use to live about 65 million years ago, which is closer in time to we humans than the Diplodocus, who use to live about 150 million years ago.
- Just like lizards and snakes, the dinosaurs use to shed their skin.
- The modern-day birds are descendants and evolved from meat-eating dinosaurs called theropods. So technically, dinosaurs are extinct completely.
- The dinosaur species can be recognized by the fossil of a single tooth or bone.
