Ever since the first Dinosaur fossils were discovered years ago, people have been fascinated by them. Both kids and adults alike are interested to learn all they can about these amazing creatures that lived millions of years ago. Thanks to palaeontologists, facts about dinosaurs are available to everyone! Here are some of our favourite fun facts about dinosaurs; this is just a little taste of all the information out there!
Sir Richard Owen, a Biologist from England, coined the name “Dinosaur”. It comes from the Greek words “deinos” meaning “big and terrible” and “sauros” meaning ”lizard” , even though dinosaurs are not actually lizards. The first recorded description of a dinosaur bone discovery was back 3500 years ago, in China. The people who discovered it didn’t know about dinosaurs though, so they thought the dinosaur teeth they found belonged to a dragon! In 1923, the first dinosaur eggs were found in the Gobi Desert by Roy Chapman Andrews, and in 2015, scientists discovered a new dinosaur species in Alberta, Canada. They named it “Hellboy” because of two facts: it has stubby horns above it’s eyes that looked like the comic book character and they also had a really hard time excavating it from the rock. After millions of years stuck in rock, of course it would be hard to get out! What a fun name! One of the most famous fossil hunters was Mary Anning. She found her first dinosaur fossil, an ichthyosaur skeleton, when she was only 12 years old! Even kids can be palaeontologists! She discovered many dinosaur related artefacts in her life, but unfortunately, back then because she was a woman, nobody took her seriously. Sometimes it wasn’t fun being a woman in the 1800’s. Now, there are many lady palaeontologists, like Blaire Van Valkenburgh and Louise Leakey, who get recognized for their hard work, and when they have discovered things millions of years old.
Some dinosaurs are really weird and fun looking. One dinosaur called the Pegomastax looks like a cross between a parrot and a porcupine. It has a beak with teeth that sharpened themselves against each other. Another weird dinosaur is the Suzhousaurus. This giant rat looking dinosaur had a furry body, and could be an ancestor of the giant ground sloth. These are the types of fun dinosaur facts I love!
Although dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago, you can still have a dinosaur like pet! Many animals today are part of the dinosaur family! Lizards, turtles, snakes and crocodiles all come from the dinosaur family. Deinosuchus was a massive prehistoric crocodile that weighed about eight times as much as the crocodiles you see today, and had the strongest bite of all the dinosaurs. It was even stronger than the Tyrannosaurus rex! If you or your kids want an ancestor of a Theropod dinosaur, you can get yourself a bird! Fun Fact: You can then tell your friends that you have a type of Utahraptor as a pet!
Although dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago, you can still have a dinosaur like pet! Many animals today are part of the dinosaur family! Lizards, turtles, snakes and crocodiles all come from the dinosaur family. Deinosuchus was a massive prehistoric crocodile that weighed about eight times as much as the crocodiles you see today, and had the strongest bite of all the dinosaurs. It was even stronger than the Tyrannosaurus rex! If you or your kids want an ancestor of a Theropod dinosaur, you can get yourself a bird! Fun Fact: You can then tell your friends that you have a type of Utahraptor as a pet!
Unfortunately, if you or your kids have a bird, you can’t tell your friends you have a Pterodactyl. The facts are true; Pterodactyls were not actually dinosaurs. These guys were flying reptiles that lived millions of years ago too. The difference is their hip-bones. Dinosaurs belong to two groups; Ornithischia and Saurischia. Saurischia dinosaurs were carnivores, with powerful jaws and tail, and short arms. The Saurischian dinosaurs were the carnivores, the meat-eating species, like Tyrannosaurus Rex, Allosaurus, and Argentinosaurus. The Ornithischian dinosaurs were more gentle, plant eaters. Dinosaurs like Triceratops, Iguanodon, and Stegosaurus have hip bones that point backward. There are over 700 different types of dinosaurs discovered so far, and I am sure we will find more!
There are so many fun facts about dinosaurs out there now because of the hard work that scientists do. Fun facts like, did you know that “Velociraptor” means “speedy thief”? If you or your kids have ever seen Jurassic World, you will understand how fitting that is! Also, the dinosaur with the longest teeth was the Tyrannosaurus Rex (8 inches!), and still to this day palaeontologists have never found a dinosaur bigger than a blue whale. In millions of years, the blue whale is still the biggest mammal ever! I love to learn about dinosaurs, and I hope you enjoyed learning these fun facts about dinosaurs too!
