Dinosaurs Facts for Kids
Roar-some facts about dinosaurs
Elasmosaurus was a plesiosaur with a neck containing 72 vertebrae — more than any other known animal. It was not a dinosaur but a marine reptile, and when the first skeleton was assembled, the scientist accidentally put its head on its tail.
Fossilised footprints tell scientists a huge amount about dinosaur behaviour, including their speed, walking style, and whether they lived in groups. Some trackways even record a predator chasing prey, frozen in stone for millions of years.
Suchomimus was a large theropod dinosaur with a narrow, crocodile-like snout filled with hooked teeth ideal for catching fish. Found in the Sahara Desert, it lived 112 million years ago in a region that was then a vast river delta.
In Montana, USA, palaeontologists discovered evidence of a large nesting colony of hadrosaur dinosaurs called Maiasaura, with multiple nests spaced evenly apart. This suggests they nested communally and returned to the same site year after year.
During the Cretaceous period when dinosaurs were at their peak diversity, sea levels were much higher than today — roughly 200 metres higher — so shallow seas covered large parts of the continents. This dramatically affected the distribution of different dinosaur species.
Heterodontosaurus had three different types of teeth in its mouth — small front teeth for nipping plants, fang-like tusks for defence or display, and flat cheek teeth for grinding. This variety of tooth types is very unusual in reptiles.
Some beaches in the UK, such as those on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, regularly yield dinosaur and prehistoric marine reptile fossils that anyone can find. The coastline is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its extraordinary fossil record.
For many years, dinosaurs were thought to be slow, cold-blooded creatures similar to modern lizards, but this idea has been completely overturned. Evidence now shows that many dinosaurs were quick, active, and warm-blooded, with complex social behaviours.
Analysis of injuries to Pachycephalosaurus skulls shows scarring that is consistent with repeated impacts, suggesting these dinosaurs engaged in regular headbutting tournaments. The injuries appear in the same patterns as those seen in modern animals that headbutt each other.
The very first dinosaurs, appearing around 230 million years ago in what is now South America, were small and walked on two legs. These early ancestors of all dinosaurs lived alongside other reptiles and were just one of many groups competing for survival.