10 Delightful Facts About Dinosaurs

At a young age, every kid goes through a dinosaur phase. Some kids may even carry that love with them through adulthood and into a career as a paleontologist. It’s not hard to see why kids love these exciting beasts that have been extinct for 65 million years. They are interesting and dangerous and powerful and even though we can’t visit them in any zoo, we know that they once roamed this earth in a time before humans ever existed. To a kid with a bright imagination, that combination is pure magic! One of my favorite dinosaur facts is that the term “dinosaur” is derived from the Greek word ”Dinosauria”; the root of that word being “deinos”, meaning “fearfully great,” paired with the word ‘sauros’, which translates to “lizard.” There are so many interesting details about these fantastic reptilian beasts! Read on for ten more interesting facts about dinosaurs.

10 Prehistoric Dinosaur Facts

1. 1. Dinosaurs ruled the earth for 165 million years. (source) During that time they evolved into a bunch of different species. This also means that they were walking around on Earth for around 100 million years longer than they’ve been extinct.

2. 2. Plant eating herbivores made up around 65% of the dinosaur population. (source) Meat eaters known as carnivores made up around 35% and it is estimated that between 1-2 percent of dinosaurs were omnivorous, meaning they ate both meat and plants.

3. 3. Fossils of dinosaurs have been found on all 7 continents. (source) During the late Triassic Period (230 million years ago), the continents were all connected to each other in one great land mass. This is why the fossils were able to be scattered throughout the world millions of years later.

4. 4. Birds are considered modern day dinosaurs. (source) All bird species today are descendants of the theropod dinosaurs.

5. 5. Barnum Brown is considered one of the greatest dinosaur hunters (paleontologists) of all time. (source) One of his most famous discoveries being the first ever documented Tyrannosaurus rex.

6. 6. The largest teeth of any dinosaur belong to the Tyrannosaurus rex at a whopping 12 inches long root to tip. (source)

7. 7. The word Velociraptor means ‘speedy thief’. (source) Velociraptors actually had feathers and not scaly skin like how they are portrayed in most movies to date.

8. 8. Colorado is known as the Stegosaurus State. (source) The first Stegosaurus fossil was found there by Canon City High School students and their teacher in 1876.

9. 9. Roy Chapman Andrews was the first person to discover dinosaur eggs. (source) Before his team’s discovery, scientists didn’t know how baby dinosaurs were born.

10. 10. The dinosaur with the strongest bite was not the T-Rex but rather, Deinosuchus. (source) This prehistoric crocodile stood 2 meters (6.5 feet) tall and was up to 10 meters (32.8 feet) long!