It's been millions of years since the dinosaurs went extinct, but we're still fascinated by them. It's insane to think that such giant, predatory, and stunning animals lived on Earth, roamed the same lands that we do today, ate, and had offspring just like any other animal species does today.
When we're children, we sort of think of dinosaurs as magical creatures. In our minds, we lump them together with fairies and unicorns and play with the concept in our make-believe worlds. Psychologists say that 3 and 4 years old is the age when most children hit their dinosaur obsession. By the age of 5 or 6, we turn to the real world and leave the magical dinosaurs behind.
My own dinosaur obsession started with watching The Land Before Time (I still can't watch the scene where Littlefoot's mother goes to sleep forever) and playing DinoPark Tycoon. For others, it's often Jurassic Park. And a testament to how we lose interest in dinosaurs as adults might be the constant ridicule Ross from Friends receives as a paleontologist.
But there are many fascinating facts about dinosaurs we don't get to know as children and perhaps don't care to find out as adults. For example, did you know the pterodactyl isn't technically a dinosaur? And that all dinosaurs, just like us, humans, were strictly terrestrial creatures? Let's dive into some of the more interesting dino facts together, shall we?
Dinosaurs lived all over the place on Earth, even Antarctica. However, back then, it wasn't a land of ice and snow; it had lush forests and temperatures of around 30C to 58C degrees close to the Antarctic Circle. Some of the dinosaurs who lived there were the ankylosaurs, the mosasaurs, and the plesiosaurs.
Well, technically, neither mosasaurs nor plesiosaurs are now considered dinosaurs. Paleontologists classify them as "marine reptilians" because, in order to be a dinosaur, you have to have your limbs beneath your body. We now refer to them as "dinosaur-like reptiles" that lived in water.
Pterodactyl is famous for its one-of-a-kind appearance, but paleontologists don't consider it to be a dinosaur either. They had their limbs on the side of their bodies, more like crocodiles and lizards. Pterodactyls also don't have any descendants and had very fragile bones, making it hard for scientists to determine facts about them.
Speaking of descendants, there are some animals that we consider the descendants of dinosaurs that may surprise you. Like chickens: velociraptors and the T-Rex are actually ancestors of birds. Researchers claim that the T-Rex and chickens have a lot of DNA in common.
