Dinosaur
hideDinosaurs (Greek: δεινόσαυρος, deinosauros) were the dominant vertebrate animals of terrestrial ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period (about 230 million years ago) until the end of the Cretaceous period (65 million years ago), when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event. The 10000 living species of birds may be classified as dinosaurs.
The term "dinosaur" was coined in 1842 by Sir Richard Owen and derives from Greek δεινός (deinos) "terrible, powerful, wondrous" + σαῦρος (sauros) "lizard". It is sometimes used informally to describe other prehistoric reptiles, such as the pelycosaur Dimetrodon, the winged pterosaurs, and the aquatic ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs, although none of these animals were dinosaurs. Through the first half of the 20th century, most of the scientific community believed dinosaurs to have been slow, unintelligent cold-blooded animals. Most research conducted since the 1970s, however, has supported the view that dinosaurs were active animals with elevated metabolisms and numerous adaptations for social interaction. The resulting transformation in the scientific understanding of dinosaurs has gradually filtered into popular consciousness.
The 1861 discovery of the primitive bird Archaeopteryx first suggested a close relationship between dinosaurs and birds. Aside from the presence of fossilized feather impressions, Archaeopteryx was very similar to the contemporary small predatory dinosaur Compsognathus. Research has since identified theropod dinosaurs as the most likely direct ancestors of birds; most paleontologists today regard birds as the only surviving dinosaurs, and some suggest that dinosaurs and birds should be grouped into one biological class. Aside from birds, crocodilians are the only other close relatives of dinosaurs to have survived until the present day. Like dinosaurs and birds, crocodilians are members of Archosauria, a group of reptiles that first appeared in the very late Permian and came to predominate in the mid-Triassic.
Since the first dinosaur fossils were recognized in the early nineteenth century, mounted dinosaur skeletons have become major attractions at museums around the world. Dinosaurs have become a part of world culture and remain consistently popular. They have been featured in best-selling books and films (notably Jurassic Park), and new discoveries are regularly covered by the media.
For more information about Dinosaur, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with dinosaurs
Dinosaur prints found on NZealand's South Island
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Nov 07, 2009 |
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Scientists have discovered the first evidence that dinosaurs roamed the South Island of New Zealand with 70-million-year-old footprints found in six locations.
The last European hadrosaurs lived in the Iberian Peninsula
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Nov 05, 2009 |
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Spanish researchers have studied the fossil record of hadrosaurs, the so-called 'duck-billed' dinosaurs, in the Iberian Peninsula for the purpose of determining that they were the last of their kind to inhabit ...
T.rex's oldest ancestor identified
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Nov 04, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Remains of the oldest-known relative of T.rex have been identified, more than 100 years after being pulled out of a Gloucestershire reservoir, according to research published in the Zoological Jo ...
Portable 3-D laser technology preserves Texas dinosaur's rare footprint
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Nov 04, 2009 |
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Using portable 3D laser technology, scientists have electronically preserved a rare 110 million-year-old fossilized dinosaur footprint that was previously excavated and built into the wall of a bandstand at a Texas courthouse ...
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Britain's oldest dinosaur to be released
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Nov 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- After 210 million years of being entombed in rock, the Bristol Dinosaur is about to be released, thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund grant awarded to the University of Bristol.
The terrible teens of T. rex
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Nov 02, 2009 |
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We all know adolescents get testy from time to time. Thank goodness we don't have young tyrannosaurs running around the neighborhood.
Bye bye 'Hogwarts dinosaur'? New analyses of dinosaur growth may wipe out one-third of species
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Oct 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Paleontologists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Museum of the Rockies have wiped out two species of dome-headed dinosaur, one of them named three years ago - with great ...
Team Discovers New Dinosaur Species From Montana
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Oct 30, 2009 |
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A husband and wife team of American paleontologists has discovered a new species of dinosaur that lived 112 million years ago during the early Cretaceous of central Montana.
Scientists find fossil bones of smallest dinosaur
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Oct 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new dinosaur species, Fruitadens haagarorum, is the smallest dinosaur ever discovered from North America. The tiny Fruitadens weighed less than a kilogram (two pounds) and was just 70 c ...
Researchers claim a third of dinosaurs might never have existed
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Oct 13, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new ten-year study by US paleontologists suggests that up to a third of dinosaur fossils may have been incorrectly identified as new species, when they are actually juveniles of species ...
Inside the First Bird, Surprising Signs of a Dinosaur
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Oct 08, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The raptor-like Archaeopteryx has long been viewed as the archetypal first bird, but new research reveals that it was actually a lot less “bird-like” than scientists had believed.
Paleontologists discover a new Mesozoic mammal
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Oct 08, 2009 |
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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA…An international team of paleontologists has discovered a new species of mammal that lived 123 million years ago in what is now the Liaoning Province in northeastern China. The ...
Trackway analysis shows how dinosaurs coped with slippery slopes
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Oct 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new investigation of a fossilized tracksite in southern Africa shows how early dinosaurs made on-the-fly adjustments to their movements to cope with slippery and sloping terrain. Differences ...
Dino footprints enter record books
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Oct 06, 2009 |
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French researchers on Tuesday said they had uncovered the biggest dinosaur footprints in the world, left by giant sauropods that may have weighed 40 tonnes or more.
A misplaced dinosaur tooth may have been cannibalism
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Oct 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- You don't have to be a paleontologist to suppose that way back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth chances were good meat eaters would dined on one of their own. Short of a time-machine trip back ...
