Dinosaurs Facts for Kids
Roar-some facts about dinosaurs
While dinosaurs ruled the land during the Jurassic period, the oceans were home to Leedsichthys — a filter-feeding fish that may have been 16 metres long, bigger than a whale shark. It was probably the largest fish that ever lived.
The word 'dinosaur' was invented by British scientist Richard Owen in 1842 and comes from the Greek words for 'terrible lizard.' Owen created it to describe the three giant extinct reptile genera that had been discovered up to that point.
Tarbosaurus was the Asian counterpart to T. rex, roaming what is now Mongolia and China about 70 million years ago. It was almost as large as T. rex but had proportionally even tinier arms and is closely related enough to be considered by some scientists the same genus.
Contrary to how they are often illustrated, most sauropods probably held their necks roughly horizontal rather than giraffe-like. Studies of their neck vertebrae suggest many species browsed at mid-height rather than reaching for the treetops.
Velociraptor had a wishbone (furcula), just like modern birds. This further confirms the close evolutionary link between dromaeosaurid dinosaurs and their living bird descendants.
Most people associate dinosaurs with the Jurassic period, but the Cretaceous period was actually longer and had a greater diversity of dinosaur species. Many of the most famous dinosaurs — T. rex, Triceratops, and Velociraptor — are Cretaceous animals.
Antarctopelta was the first dinosaur species to be discovered in Antarctica, found in 1986. This armoured ankylosaur proves that even the frozen continent was once warm enough to support a diverse range of large animals.
Baby and juvenile dinosaurs often looked dramatically different from adults, with larger eyes, shorter snouts, and different proportions. This means some fossils once classified as new species turned out to be young individuals of already known dinosaurs.
Elasmosaurus was a plesiosaur with an absurdly long neck — about 7 metres, containing 72 vertebrae — but it was NOT a dinosaur. It was a marine reptile that swam through Cretaceous seas catching fish with needle-like teeth.
Iguanodon had a conical spike on each thumb that could be used as a stabbing weapon against predators. When the first Iguanodon skeleton was assembled, scientists mistakenly placed this thumb spike on the dinosaur's nose.