Though it would be a blast to visualize dinosaurs and humans existing at the same time, it’s likely not a good idea – we’ve all watched what happens in Jurassic Park!
The next best thing is to gather as much knowledge as we can about these prehistoric reptiles and let our minds wander.
We decided to help you out and have compiled and written 5 most amazing dinosaur facts.1.Dinosaurs have been around for more than 230 million years!
About 250 million years ago, most life on earth went extinct, and within the next ten million years or so, dinosaurs began to evolve.
The exact timing of when dinosaurs first entered the scene is up for question, but we know for sure that it was between 230-245 million years ago.
2.Dinosaurs lived during the Mesozoic era.
The Mesozoic era roughly ran from 245 to 66 million years ago and is generally divided into three time periods: the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods.
3.They evolved from reptiles the size of house cats.
From around 244 to 242 million years ago, small yet agile reptiles known as dinosaur morphs rapidly increased and spread across the world.
While they were far too small to come even close to the top of the food chain, they were speedy enough to escape predators for long enough to evolve into dinosaurs!
4.The first dinosaur was named before we even knew dinosaurs existed.
In 1815 William Buckland, a geology professor from Oxford University, came across the skeleton of an animal unlike any previously recorded.
Deciding that it was some long-extinct form of reptile, he named it “Megalosaurus” (Greek for “great lizard”).
5.Dinosaurs weren’t named as such because they inspired terror.
When Sir Richard Owen came up with the name for dinosaurs, he meant the word terrible in a different sense.
He described them as being “fearfully great,” as in far larger in size than any previously known reptiles.
Maybe if the first fossil he came across were that of a T-Rex, he would have meant it in more of a literal sense!
FACT PULSE
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