Goldstein - 101 Amazing Facts about Dinosaurs

Title Page

101 AMAZING FACTS ABOUT DINOSAURS

Jack Goldstein

Publisher Information

Published in 2014 by

Andrews UK Limited

www.andrewsuk.com

The right of Jack Goldstein to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998

Copyright 2014 Jack Goldstein

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

All facts contained within this book have been researched from reputable sources. If any information is found to be false, please contact the publishers, who will be happy to make corrections for future editions.

Introduction

Did you know there is a species of dinosaur named after Hogwarts? Which were the largest and smallest dinosaurs? What is the difference between a brontosaurus and an apatosaurus? This excellent book answers all of these questions and more, with over one hundred facts about dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures.

Follow Jack Goldstein on Twitter @GoldsteinBooks

Visit Goldstein Books at www.jackgoldsteinbooks.com

The Basics

1. The word dinosaur was invented in 1842 by a British palaeontologist called Robert Owen. It means terrible lizard when translated from the Greek words deinos and sauros .
2. When talking about dinosaurs, one is most commonly referring to reptiles that lived on the earth between 231.4 million years and 66 million years ago.
3. To put this into perspective, humans have lived on the earth for around two million years, whereas dinosaurs roamed for more than eighty times that!
4. This period is known as the Mesozoic era, which means middle life (referring to the age of the earth itself). It is further split into three periods: Triassic (231.4 - 201 million years ago), Jurassic (201 - 145 million years ago) and Cretaceous (145 - 66 million years ago).
5. The first dinosaurs were small, however larger species evolved through the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
6. Dinosaurs lived on all continents of the earth - even Antarctica. During the early Mesozoic era however, the earth looked very different as all the continents were in fact one big land mass which we now call Pangaea . It started to break up around 200 million years ago, and the continents we know today have been drifting apart ever since.
7. We still do not know how many species of dinosaur there were, with estimates ranging from one to three thousand non-avian species alone.
8. Scientists believe that dinosaurs included both cold-blooded and warm-blooded species, with the larger plant-eaters almost certainly being cold-blooded and the fast, active meat-eaters warm.
9. 66 million years ago, there was a mass extinction of dinosaurs and other animals which is known as the Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction Event .
10. We do not know for sure is what caused the mass extinction. One popular theory amongst scientists is that a huge meteorite six miles in diameter hit Mexico which would have sent shockwaves throughout the earth, wiping out everything but the smallest species of animal. We have discovered a 112-mile wide crater that supports this theory, however it does not prove it. Other theories include an increase in the number of animals using dinosaur eggs as a food-source, leading to dwindling numbers; another is a plague that quickly spread across the globe.

Ankylosaurus

General Facts - Part 1

1. Someone who studies dinosaurs is known as a palaeontologist .
2. Although this book does include facts and information about them, technically species such as the pterodactyl are flying reptiles and not dinosaurs; similarly plesiosaurs and the like are water-based reptiles. It is therefore more correct to call these other species prehistoric creatures .
3. Each dinosaur had its own defense mechanism. Some, obviously, had very sharp teeth and claws; others had horns or spikes, and stegosaurus had bony plates on its back - although there is some debate as to whether these were actually used as a weapon.
4. Many dinosaurs - particularly herbivores - lived in herds for protection, just as many species do today. These herds could range in size from just a few animals to thousands of individuals.
5. The best fossils tend to come from dinosaurs that lived near water - it is thought that the soft, muddy ground has helped preserve them better than those in other dryer areas.
6. Birds are the closest living relatives of dinosaurs. Next time you see a chicken, look at it very closely - you might be surprised as to just how ancient it seems!
7. In fact, chickens are so closely related to the prehistoric beasts that scientist are trying to create dinosaurs by manipulating the DNA of normal chickens! Amazingly, they believe that only a few small alterations are required.
8. In 1824, William Buckland became the first person to identify dinosaur bones correctly, naming a fossil megalosaurus.
9. Recognition should also be given to Gideon Mantell, who discovered dinosaur teeth and bones in Sussex in 1822. However, other pioneering scientists - including William Buckland - dismissed his findings as being those of fish and other animals rather than dinosaurs!
10. The first dinosaur discovery in North America was in 1854 when Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden explored the upper Missouri river and found a collection of teeth. These were later found to have belonged to trachodon, troodon and deinodon.

Epachthosaurus

Unusual Dinosaurs

1. There was a prehistoric creature which lived during the Cretaceous period called deinosuchus. It was very closely related to todays alligators - although it was around eight times as big!
2. Corythosaurus had a large bony crest on top of its head, containing a large hollow chamber into which its nasal passages extended. This acted as an amplifier for sound, and it is thought that it could have had a cry much like the sound of a trumpet!
3. The skull of the pentaceratops (a dinosaur with five horns on its head) was an amazing three metres long!
4. The quetzalcoatlus, a pterosaur from the late cretaceous period, had a wingspan of at least eleven metres - and some think it could have been as much as twenty! This makes it one of the largest flying creatures the earth has ever seen.
5. Therizinosaurus had claws which were each a whole metre long. Scary!
6. It is thought that the troodon was the most intelligent of all the dinosaurs. It lived around 77 million years ago, was around two metres long and had the brain the size of a comparable mammal today.
7. Therizinosaurus had extremely long and thin claws, effectively like medieval swords. With three on each hand, this was certainly a dinosaur you wouldnt.
8. Archelon was a sea turtle that lived around eighty million years ago measuring four metres long and almost five metres wide from flipper to flipper.
9. Sinornithosaurus is a small, turkey-sized member of the raptor family that had long fang-like teeth that scientists believe were used to inject venom into their prey.
10. Oryctodromeus cubicularis burrowed under the ground with its shovel-like snout; its name literally means digging runner of the lair.