Page 1

Dinosaur fossils have been found on all seven continents. All non-avian dinosaurs went extinct about 66 million years ago. There are roughly 700 known species of extinct dinosaurs. Modern birds are a kind of dinosaur because they share a common ancestor with non-avian dinosaurs. The earliest dinosaurs for which we do have well-documented fossils are found in Late Triassic Ischigualasto Formation in northern Argentina. Skeletons discovered in these rock layers include the meat-eating dinosaurs Herrerasaurus and Eoraptor, as well as the plant-eating dinosaur Pisanosaurus.

The heaviest dinosaur was Argentinosaurus at 77 tonnes. It was the equivalent to 17 African Elephants. Argentinosaurus is a double award winner being also the longest dinosaur. It is also the largest land animal to have ever lived.

In 1677, Robert Plot is credited with discovering the first dinosaur bone, but his best guess as to what it belonged to was a giant human. It wasn't until William Buckland, the first professor of geology at Oxford University, that a dinosaur fossil was correctly identified for what it was.

Scientists already know that an asteroid—or perhaps a comet—struck Earth off Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. The resulting 110 miles/80 kilometers wide Chicxulub crater is thought to have caused a decades-long “impact winter” that killed the dinosaurs.

While scientists have complex ways of classifying dinosaurs, most people separate them into three groups: carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores. Let's learn more about these three types of dinosaurs.

First Dinosaurs. Approximately 230 million years ago, during the Triassic Period, the dinosaurs appeared, evolved from the reptiles. Plateosaurus was one of the first large plant-eating dinosaurs, a relative of the much larger sauropods. It grew to about 9 meters in length. Dinosaurs lived on all of the continents.

At the beginning of the age of dinosaurs (during the Triassic Period, about 230 million years ago), the continents were arranged together as a single supercontinent called Pangaea. During the 165 million years of dinosaur existence this supercontinent slowly broke apart.

After the dinosaurs died out, nearly 65 million years passed before people appeared on Earth. However, small mammals (including shrew-sized primates) were alive at the time of the dinosaurs.

The short answer is we know of about 900 valid dinosaur species that existed. In 1841, Richard Owen, the first director of London's Natural History Museum, gave the name dinosaurs to these giant prehistoric reptiles. The word dinosaur is from the Greek deinos (terrible) and sauros (lizard).

After the dinosaurs' extinction, flowering plants dominated Earth, continuing a process that had started in the Cretaceous, and continue to do so today. But all land animals weighing over 25 kilogrammes died out. 'What we're left with are basically the seeds of what we have today.

Modern Dinosaur movies depicting the dinosaurs being created in lab by modern science. They are popular among peers as it contains something unlike our now existing animals. Curiosity drives people to research, learn and explore, while new concepts keep rising into this world.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***