1. The average
dinosaur was no bigger than a station wagon. The smallest dinosaur
was no bigger than a robin. The largest was 3 schoolbuses long.
2. Dinosaurs
have been found in 35 states.
3. Dinosaurs were
not stupid. The smartest dinosaur was smarter than any mammal in dinosaur
time. T. rex’s brain was bigger than ours.
4. Dinosaurs lived
on the South Pole – Dinosaurs lived everywhere on the land.
There was no snow on the poles then.
5. Half of all
the kinds of dinosaurs known have been found in the last 20 years.
6. Dinosaurs started
small – Even the largest dinosaur egg is far smaller than the
largest bird egg. Giant dinosaurs had eggs less than 6 inches across.
7. Dinosaurs are
not extinct – Birds are living dinosaurs.
8. Dinosaurs were
warm-blooded. Dinosaurs grew fast and kept themselves warm.
9. Most dinosaurs
are not found by scientists. Four in five dinosaurs are found by amateurs.
10. Half of all
dinosaurs ever named were named wrongly. Brontosaurus has been known
to be another dinosaur, Apatosaurus, since 1911.
11. Most dinosaurs
are known from just a single tooth or bone.
12. The United
States is #1 in kinds of dinosaurs discovered. China is #2.
13. Some dinosaurs
had more than 1000 teeth. All dinosaurs could replace their teeth
at any time.
14. The longest
dinosaur was bigger than a blue whale or any other animal known –
125 feet long. The longest Chinese dinosaur was Mamenchisaurus, 70
feet long.
15. Dinosaurs could
swim and probably climb trees, but not fly. Chinese dinosaurs with
feathers on all four limbs have recently been found, no bigger than
squirrels.
Dinosaurs
by the Numbers
8 inches – The length of a T. rex tooth – the largest
tooth of any meateater.
500 pounds –
The amount of meat a T. rex could swallow in one bite
6 feet long –
The length of the skull of biggest meat-eater ever, Giganotosaurus.
930 – The
number of kinds of dinosaurs.
21 days –
The current average time between dinosaur discoveries- the fastest
pace ever
5 feet high, 4
feet wide – The largest bone in the world – A backbone
of Argentinosaurus, a plant-eating dinosaur and the largest animal
ever.
24 – The
largest known number of dinosaur eggs in a nest.
120 tons –
The weight of 1 Argentinosaurus, the heaviest of all animals, equal
to 100 elephants.
33 feet –
The longest neck of any animal – Mamenchisaurus, a planteater
68 feet long.
228 million- The
age of the oldest dinosaur, the dog-sized meateater Eoraptor from
Argentina.
