Let’s have a good look at all the amazing dinosaur facts for kids including dinosaurs habitat, size, length, mass, and running speed. Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals that belong to the dinosauria clade and are believed to have appeared during the period of Triassic.
The dinosaurs have been evolved some 230 million years ago and were considered to be the terrestrial vertebrate that came 135 million years before. They are land-dwelling descendants of primitive archosaurs reptiles that lived some 230 – 250 million years ago.
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According to the fossil records, the birds have evolved from theropod dinosaurs in the course of Jurassic Period, and ultimately they are regarded a subgroup of dinosaurs in fresh classification systems.
However, there is a problem in explaining the scientific definition of the word ‘dinosaur’ in that the paleontologists and biologists incline to use a parched out language as compared to the average knowledge-able person on the street. Therefore, mostly people perceive dinosaurs as large and mammoth creatures that became extinct millions of years ago.
Dinosaur Facts For Kids
- According to the latest evidence, the dinosaur’s size differed considerably in the period of premature Jurassic and Cretaceous. There were theropod dinosaurs that weighed around 100 – 1000 kg (220 – 2200 lb); however, the weight of the carinovorans measured around 10 – 100 kg (22 – 220 lb). Of all the dinosaurs species, sauropods were the largest and the heaviest species than anything that walked on the planet earth.
- The large sizes of these dinosaurs served various useful purposes including dietary, reduction in energy use, and protection from predation. It follows that the large animals are more likely to digest as compared to the small animals as fare spends a considerable amount of time in their digestive systems. Sauropods were often inhabited in rock formations.
- As is evident from the modern bird’s behavior that they are sociable creatures, it is believed that many dinosaurs shared common traits with birds and crocodiles were also sociable creatures.
- Not much is known about the mating behavior of dinosaurs. The crests and frills of few dinosaurs might have been too weak to be employed for active defense and therefore they were probably be used for mating displays and the like. These dinosaurus include theropods, lambeosaurines, and marginocephalians.
- One of the strong fossilized evidences was discovered in 1972 in the Gobi Desert which suggested that dinosaurs did indeed attack each other. There lived few dinosaurs that were primarily carnivorous and had known to prey on live prey. Some of the species were nocturnal including Juravenator, dromaesaurids, and Megapnosaurus.
- Apart from carnivorous, herbivorous dinosaurs also lived such as Hadrosaurids, sauropodomorphs, ceratopsians, and ornithomimosaurs.
How Fast Could Dinosaurs Run?
If you really want to know how fast could dinosaurs run then perhaps you should forget about those dinosaurs that you’ve come across in movies like Jurassic park and The Lost World.
Virtually speaking, we’re not aware as to the exact dinosaur’s locomotion except for what can be inferred from preserved footprints by contrast to modern animals.
Galloping Dinosaurs? Not So Fast!
There were three major limitations as far as dinosaur locomotion was concerned namely: size, metabolism and body plan. Of course size does matter and you won’t expect that a hundred-ton titanosaur could move as fast as a horse or other faster animals.
The dinosaurs speed can be assessed from their body plans which are in relation to their legs, trunks, and arms. Ankylosaurus was believed to be a short stumpy dinosaur which could not run no more than a human walk.
According to paleontologists, in order to run faster you should be able to produce a consistent supply of internal energy that requires warm-blooded physiology.
Now the biologists are of the view that many dinosaurs were carnivorous and were endothermic (warm-blooded), and that the smaller, feathered diversities may have been capable of short bursts of speed like leopard.
What were the Fastest Dinosaurs?
The fastest dinosaurs were ornithomimids that could run as fast as 30 – 40 miles per hour. Since they had long robust legs and an ostrich-like physic, the clear champions were ornithomimids.
Some other dinosaur species could also run faster such as Dromiceiomimus which were covered with feathers and were warm-blooded animals.
Ornithopods were another species that were capable sprint in short bursts which was the most useful defense they possessed to get rid of predators.
The largest and understandably the slow-mover dinosaur, T. Rex Allosauris Giganotosaurus was carnivorous and could only reach a speed 20 miles per hour.
How Much Did Dinosaurs Weigh?
The weight of the dinosaurs can very well be measured by their size. The gigantic titanosaur, for instance, could weigh somewhere in between 80 – 120 tons apart from the other two giants Futalognkosaurus and Argentinosaurus.
According to latest findings, the paleontologists had been overestimating the weight of the dinosaurs since 1985, for the reason that scientists are trying to weigh by assessing the size of certain bones or the total length of the specimen which is not right.
This can be true in case of smaller mammals or reptiles but it certainly proves to be an inadequate approach when it comes to larger animals.
The species such as Apatosaurus that were believed to be 40 – 50 tons heavier previously, were now weighed around 15 – 25 tons. Similarly, the female tyrannosaurus that were larger than males, could weigh no more than 10 tons as against the previous estimates of 6 – 7 tons.
Largest and the Smallest | Fun Dinosaur Facts For Kids
The debate among scientists regarding the largest and the smallest dinosaurs is still under way probably due to the fact that only a handful number of animals had been fossilized and rest remain buried in the earth.
The bones of the heaviest and tallest dinosaurs displayed in the Museum fur Naturkunde Berline where it stands 12 meters (39 feet), with the length measuring at 22.5 meters (74 feet). This animal would have weighed around 30,000 – 60,000 kg (70,000 – 130,000 lb).
The longest specimen measured around 27 meters (89 feet) and it belongs to Diplodocus. Diplodocus was discovered in the United States and is shown in Pittsburg;s Carnegie Natural History Museum (1907).
It goes without saying that much larger dinosaurs had existed but due to the lack of fragmented fossils, scientists could not say for sure. There are many largest species that were herbivorous and were found in 1970, weighing around 80,000 – 100,000 kg (90 – 110 short tons).
Where Did Dinosaurs Live
Millions of years ago, dinosaurs believed to have occupied a broad range of geographical regions, ranging from thick forests to dusty plains. Let’s have a look at the dinosaurs habitat in the period of Mesozoic epoch.
Plains
The windswept plains of the Cretaceous period did not have grass as modern plains do perhaps because grass had not evolved then. The hadrosaurs, ornithopods, and ceratopsians, were believed to have covered these plains and they were all herbivorous species.
Wetlands
There were numerous dinosaur species that occupied a wide range of low-lying plains known as wetlands. These dinosaurs were herbivorous and fed on grass. Lguanodon, Hypsilophodon, and Polacanthus were few of these specimen.
Riparian Forests
The riparian forests that were dominated by dense vegetation and lush trees offered enough food for dinosaurs to live on. However, the forest was also subject to periodic flooding.
One of the most popular riparian forests in those times was Jurassic North America, which is called Morrison Formation in the present time. Sauropods, gigantic Diplodocus, fierce Allosaurus, theropods, and ornithopods had occupied these habitat range.
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