| We're all familiar with dinosaurs from movies such as | | | | 5. The smallest known dinosaur is Compsognathus, |
| Jurassic Park and King Kong, but how much do you | | | | which lived in Europe during the late Jurassic, and was |
| really know about dinosaurs? Here are 10 facts about | | | | about the size of a chicken. Compsognathus is |
| dinosaurs which you can amaze your friends and | | | | believed to have eaten insects, lizards and other small |
| family with: | | | | animals. |
| 1. Dinosaurs first appeared during the Triassic period | | | | 6. There are quite a few candidates for the largest |
| (248 to 213 million years ago), and were the dominant | | | | dinosaur, as there are several types of dinosaur that |
| land animals through the entire Jurassic period, and to | | | | were over 100 feet (30 metres) long. The largest was |
| the end of the Cretaceous period (65 million years | | | | certainly some kind of sauropod (a four-legged |
| ago). | | | | plant-eating dinosaur with a long neck) that lived during |
| 2. We know about dinosaurs because fossils have | | | | the late Jurassic or early Cretaceous period. |
| been found. The fossils, which are generally found in | | | | 7. The word "dinosaur" was coined by Sir Richard |
| sedimentary rocks, including fossilized body parts | | | | Owen, who also founded the Natural History Museum |
| (bones, teeth, skin, claws, etc.), as well as trace fossils | | | | in London, England. "Dinosaur" means terrible lizard, and |
| ("ichnofossils") which show how the animals lived, | | | | is based on the Greek words "deinos" (terrible) and |
| which include footprints, burrows, nests, toothmarks, | | | | "sauros" (lizard). |
| dung, etc. | | | | 8. People have been finding dinosaur fossils for |
| 3. The earth's continents slowly move through a | | | | hundreds of years, but didn't know what they were |
| process known as "plate tectonics". When dinosaurs | | | | until quite recently. The first time that a dinosaur was |
| first appeared during the Triassic period, all the earth's | | | | scientifically described was in 1824, by William |
| continents were joined together in one super-continent | | | | Buckland. |
| known as "Pangea". | | | | 9. At the same time that dinosaurs dominated the land, |
| 4. All the familiar types of dinosaurs, died off at the | | | | there were many aquatic reptiles that dominated the |
| end of the Cretaceous period. There are many | | | | seas, although these were not dinosaurs. These |
| different theories why this may have happened, but | | | | aquatic reptiles included plesiosaurs, nothosaurs, |
| today the most popular theory is that an asteriod hit | | | | mosasaurs and ichythosaurs. |
| the earth, blocking out the sunlight so that there was | | | | 10. Although birds seem to have evolved from |
| not enough food available. Evidence for this theory is a | | | | dinosaurs, no non-avian flying dinosaurs are known. |
| layer of iridium, which is believed to have come from | | | | However, at the time of dinosaurs there were many |
| the asteroid, has been found around the world, and a | | | | flying reptiles, known as pterosaurs. |
| possible impact site found in southern Mexico. | | | | |