Dino Fact: The Best Of (Or at least my favourite)

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I just really love this dino fact. If you don't check the Webosaurs Blog regularly, then I'll post the ones that I think are my faves and that I hope you like too.

Daily Dino Fact: Dragon or Dinosaur?

December 3rd, 2009

Dinosaur?

Q: What were dinosaurs called before they were called dinosaurs? HaleyN

A: Dinosaurs have been called many things before people realized what the actually were. Humans have been finding dinosaur bones for thousands of years but it wasn’t until the 1600’s when people started thinking, shall we say, more accurately about them.

The Chinese believed them to be dragon bones and used them in traditional medicines. During the Jin Dynasty (265-420 AD), Zhang Qu writes of the discovery of such bones as dragons. Dragons have long been a symbol of Chinese culture, something the discovery of dinosaur bones surely influenced.

In Europe, people believed that the bones were the remains of creatures or giants that had been killed during the Biblical Great Flood. During the 1600s, people started scientifically describing the remains they had found and recognized them as belonging to an extinct animal. It wasn’t until Sir Richard Owen coined the term “dinosaur” in 1842 that we had a modern name for them.

-Rex

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Daily Dino Fact: Hey, looks aren’t everything November 19th, 2009

The Meanest Mug in the Mesozoic

Q: What was the ugliest dino ever? -Chunkyman1

A: A couple months ago we had done a Daily Dino Fact as a joke, calling the liopleurodon the cutest dinosaur ever. I wanted to get something else for this post but there is just no other way around it, liopleurodon is hands down the ugliest dinosaur to ever be on this earth. Well, technically he wasn’t a dinosaur because he was a swimmer but that is just a technicality.

This fearsome creature was probably one of the greatest predators of all time. It was quick in the water and had powerful jaws to destroy just about anything. It also happened to have one of the gnarliest faces of all time to. That is someone you would not introduce to your mother.

Thanks for the question Chunkyman1. Until next time, keep bluggin!

-Rex

Daily Dino Fact: Little raptor makes his debut on Earth

November 4th, 2009

Terrifying... to dragonflies

Q: What was the first dinosaur in the world? Aswewer

A: From Mary M. Alward: “The first dinosaur, sometimes called the “dawn dinosaur,” was Eoraptor. It was about the size of a dog. An almost complete skeleton was found in Argentina in 1993. Scientists were delighted. The discovery of an almost complete skeleton of a dinosaur is a very rare find.

Eoraptor was a very fierce hunter, and a meat eater. It was fast and smart. It’s teeth were serrated (sharp and jagged). It was 1 foot (12 inches) high and 3 feet (approx. 1 meter) long. It weighed only 20 lbs. (9 kilos) It stood on its hind legs and had small, grasping hands. It looked a little like a miniature t-rex. Scientists believe it could walk on four legs, but speculate (think) it did so only if necessary. The skull was small, but strong. Its bones were hollow. Eoraptor had five fingers on its front limbs, which it used with skill.”

Thanks for the question, what else do you guys have for me?

-Rex

Daily Dino Fact: Na na na na, hey hey hey… Goodbye!

November 3rd, 2009

Q: How did the dinosaurs become extinct? - Rent and Pilpulpichu

A: We’ve answered this question before, but it is such a big deal I thought it would be good to have a refresher.

I’m sure you guys are getting used to this response by now, but we don’t really know. There are two competing theories on the extinction that occurred at the K/T bounday (the time between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods). One group believes it was a gradual extinction and the other follows the idea of a single catastrophic event. Here is what we do know:

-There was global climate change from warm to cooler temperatures going into the Cenozoic. However the dinosaurs went extinct, this is what caused it. How it happened is the subject of debate.

Gradualists

These guys believe that the extinction occurred over a long period of time. We know there was a lot of volcanic activity at the end of the Cretaceous, and the ash from these eruptions could have partially blocked out the sun and produced climate change over time. Another possible answer is earthquakes and the shifting of the earth’s plates.

Catastrophists

These dudes believe a single or series of catastrophic events wiped out the dinosaurs relatively quickly. The biggest theory in this area is that a large object from space collided with the Earth, making so much dust and debris that it blocked out the sun, causing climate change on a larger and quicker scale.

So what really happened? We really don’t know. This is one of the most heavily debated topics in paleontology today and there are a wide variety of theories. For more information you can read this article from the University of California Museum of Paleontology.

How do you think the dinosaurs died?

-Rex


Well that's it for "The Best Of" but I'll do it again when I see some more really cool Dino Facts.

Over and out,
NightStriker, Webosaurs Elites Prime Minister ^_^