Dinosaurs

For millions of decades, dinosaurs roamed and dominated the earth. They are vertebrate animals that lived from the Triassic to the Jurassic to the Cretaceous periods. The word dinosaur has been derived from the Greek words which mean terrible and powerful lizards. During the earlier years of the 20th century, the majority of the scientific community thought of dinosaurs to be slow and unintelligent cold-blooded creatures. However, after the extensive research conducted from the 1970s, it was discovered that dinosaurs have been active animals that had elevated metabolisms and were equipped with adaptations for social interaction. In 1861, the discovery of Archaeopteryx, a primitive bird, suggested a close relationship between birds and dinosaurs. A couple of years later and after some studies were conducted, scientists were able to identify that theropod dinosaurs were the most possible direct ancestors of birds. Because of this, many paleontologists today consider birds to be the only surviving species of dinosaurs. There were even some who suggested that birds and dinosaurs should be grouped in a single biological class. Aside from birds, another species that were considered to be close relatives of dinosaurs that are still living up to the present day would be the crocodilians. This is because like the birds and the dinosaurs, crocodilians also belong to the group of Archosaurs. The Archosaurs is a group of reptiles which first appeared during the very late Permian and later dominated in the mid-Triassic period.

From the time that the first fossils of dinosaurs were unearthed during the early years of the 19th century, mounted skeletons of dinosaurs became the major attractions in various museums all over the world. Presently, dinosaurs are considered as a big part of world culture and continue to be popular. Dinosaurs such as the Tyrannosaurus Rex or Trex have also been featured in many best-selling books and films, the most notable would be Jurassic Park.

Today, paleontologists continue their search for uncovering interesting facts about dinosaurs. Here are some of the information that you probably do not know about these giant creatures.

Dinosaurs are possibly warm-blooded. As mentioned, people thought dinosaurs were cold-blooded animals since they were reptiles. Cold-blooded animals are unable to maintain a constant body temperature, meaning that they have to change their surroundings or move somewhere that would be able to provide them with the temperature that they can thrive in. However, when the remains of a Thescelosaur was discovered in 1993, scientists observed that its heart resembled that of a bird or a mammal. This gave way to the theory that dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded animals.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex or Trex might not have been as mean as popular culture depicts it discoveries showing that the Trex could have actually been a scavenger and did not proactively seek its prey. This is because the remains of the Tyrannosaurus Rex were observed to have large olfactory nerves and olfactory bulbs, which enables it to have a very keen sense of smell. Also, because of its size and teeth, it could have also been difficult for it to catch and wrestle prey.

There is also a growing number of paleontologists and scientists who believe that birds are actually dinosaurs and did not just evolve from them. Some scientists have even stated that birds were avian dinosaurs and that they are technically considered to be reptiles. Although this theory is still being debated about, more and more scientists are starting to be convinced that that birds are indeed the only dinosaur species which have survived the dinosaur extinction in the Cretaceous period.