UNKNOWN FACTS
ABOUT DINOSAURS
G'day folks,
Dinosaurs is a topic most people feel they have some kind
of knowledge about. After all, nearly everyone has seen or heard of the
blockbuster movie Jurassic Park, and young children are usually the experts in
any house on the names, shapes, sizes, and eating habits of these ancient
reptiles. However, even though dinosaurs might have been extinct for more
than 60 million years, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing new to learn about
them. Here are 10 things you probably didn’t know about dinosaurs in our modern
world, but will after reading this list.
10. Triceratops and the Brontosaurus
There are
some paleontologists who think one of the species of dinosaurs we take for
granted – the species that includes dinosaurs such as the Triceratops and the
Brontosaurus – did not actually exist. They think two other existing species
have been confused for all of these years, and there might be something to the
idea, given that paleontologists actually still have never found a complete skeleton
of a triceratops.
9. Humans & Dinosaurs
A
surprisingly high percentage of people in the United States – more than 4 out
of every 10 adults, in fact – actually believe that human beings and dinosaurs
were on the planet at the same time. They weren’t, of course, as dinosaurs
preceded human beings by hundreds of millions of years. But it’s fun to think
Jurassic Park could really have existed, isn’t it?
8. Chickenosaurus Dinosaur Facts
Jack
Homer is one of the best known paleontologists in the United States who
discovered and named Maiasaura, he provided the first clear evidence that
some dinosaurs cared for their young ones. In addition to his many
paleontological discoveries, He was also one of the consultants for
Jurassic Park, serving as a partial inspiration for one of the lead characters,
Dr. Alan Grant. Since the movie, he has put his efforts toward the
creation of a real life dinosaur. His goal is to make a chickenosaurus, which,
as you can imagine, is designed to be a hybrid of sorts between a small
prehistoric dinosaur and the modern chicken.
7. Sauropods
Even
though the Tyrannosaurus Rex gets a lot of attention from movies like Jurassic
Park, the truth is that it wasn’t even one of the biggest dinosaurs. These were
a group of dinosaurs known as the Sauropods. The biggest of these was actually
200 or more feet long and actually capable of making sonic booms by the speed
at which they could whip their tails.
6. Clive Palmer and Dinosaurs:
Clive
Palmer is a billionaire in Australia who has a lot of ideas about whimsical
things to do with his money. Among other things, like his desire to build a new
Titanic, he also wants to make a Jurassic Park, like the movie. However, his
will just have lots of mechanical dinosaurs that are life sized; there won’t be
any genetic recombination with chicken eggs.
5. Theory of Dinosaur’s Brain:
There
used to be a theory, which has now been disproved, that some dinosaurs actually
had not one, but two brains! The idea at the time was that the second brain was
located in the dinosaur’s bottom. That gives a new meaning to the phrase about
having one’s head…you know where.
4. Discoveries of Various Species of Dinosaurs
Back
between 1877 and 1892, there were a pair of paleontologists, or dinosaur
scientists, who were part of something odd called the ‘Bone Wars’. This meant
they ended up stealing, destroying, and otherwise sabotaging each other’s work
over the decades. However, at the same time, they were also responsible for the
discovery of more than 140 new species of dinosaurs at the time. Was it worth
it?
3. Pterodactyl vs Dinosaurs
The
largest animals in the history of the Earth that ever took flight were not
dinosaurs, but a special clade of reptiles that just lived alongside dinosaurs
back in the day. These included other non dinosaurs such as the pterodactyl,
which lots of children and not a small number of adults are probably still
familiar with. More broadly, however, these ancient reptiles were called
pterosaurs. The largest of them had wingspans 40 feet in length, which is wider
than some of today’s airplanes!
2. Birds vs Dinosaurs
Birds are
actually classified as part of the super group that encompasses all dinosaurs
known as a clade. That’s right; birds are really dinosaurs! It’s thought that
birds were among the few kinds of dinosaurs that survived the mass extinctions
hundreds of millions of years ago. However, to keep from confusing the general
public, scientists don’t call birds dinosaurs, except for when you go to their
yearly conferences or read classification guides.
1. Rapetosaurus Dinosaur Facts
Finally,
the fact most people probably don’t know about dinosaurs is that there is
actually a dinosaur named Rapetosaurus. An odd name, for sure, but don’t worry
– all it really means is mischievous giant lizard. However, the funny thing
about rapetosaurus is that is’s actually related to the very first dinosaur
bone that was ever found, from a giant dinosaur called a megalosaurus. And the
very first bone found from that dinosaur was called (you’ll never guess this)
scrotum humanum. Why? Because it resembled a certain part of the male human
anatomy.
Clancy's comment: Mm ... I've never met one, but they look pretty big and fierce to me.
I'm ...
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