Stegosaurus

As a child I can recall stegosaurus being my favorite dinosaur. I had an orange and red hollow plastic stegosaurus that was my buddy.

One of the more recognizable dinosaurs, stegosaurus (meaning roof lizard) has a distinct spiked tail and large plates on its back (more on those later). About the size of the bus, this herbivore used its aggressive appearance as a defense.

While it is still up for inquiry, some believe the plates on the stegosaurus' back helped cool the dinosaur. The large surface area would help the most amount of skin come in contact with the wind.

I like this idea the best, it would mean the stegosaurus was the prototype for modern day refrigeration equipment. Simply put, the hot gas travels through a coil that has fins attached to it (all to increase the surface area of a given space), and as the gas is exposed to more and more wind it releases its heat. Its amazing how many intricate and detailed systems we create are just innovations on what already exists in nature.



Sources: Stegosaurus Fact sheet at Enchantedlearning.com

Wikipedia

Troodon

On Des's favorite tv show, Dinosaur Train, the Troodons (pronounced TROH-o-don), operate the train. Lacking modesty, the Troodons constantly proclaim themselves as the smartest dinosaurs.

This is because fossil records show that the Troodon had the largest brain according to its body size. Scientists think the Troodon was about as smart as modern day birds.

Troodons lived in North America in the late Cretaceous period, about 70 million years ago.

Troodon was a carnivore, with sharp teeth and a toe claw. Not as big as the Deinonychus's toe claw, but still deadly. Troodon was a bipedal theropod, who probably ran very fast.

Some paleontologists theorize that Troodon was nocturnal because of their large eye sockets.

Troodon on Dinosaur Train:





Sources: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/facts/Troodon/
Dinosaur Train

Lambeosaurus (Lam-bee-oh-sore-uss)

It's been a crazy couple of months. I went from super pregnant to now trying to figure out how to take care of an infant and a 2.5 year old. I do hope to post regularly someday soon.




Lambeosaurus was a large Hadrosaur. They lived in the late Cretaceous period in North America.

Lambeosaurus was an herbivore. They had a large crest on their head that looked like an axe. Some scientist believe that the crest was used to make sounds so they could communicate with each other.

Check out how big the Lambeosaurus was:



Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambeosaurus
http://www.kidsdinos.com/dinosaurs-for-children.php?dinosaur=Lambeosaurus
http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=20940&start=3585
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lambeosaurus_magnicristatus_DB.jpg

Elasmosaurus.

I am deciding to dive into the ocean for my first post and introduce everyone to the elasmosaurus! There is a character in the show Dinosaur Train named Elmer, and he is an elasmosaurus who they meet on their underwater adventure.

This dinosaur is half neck and has 71 vertebrae, more than any other animal. Elasmosaurus is a plesiosaur who lived in the late Cretaceous period. At 45' they were about the size of a shipping container, and weighing in around 9000 pounds.

Due to their large size, it was thought that they used their long necks to stalk and prey on schools of fish, rather than engaging in a chase.

Sources: Wikipedia, About.com

Eoraptor

I've been slacking with this blog. I know.


The Eoraptor! I got Des a book with the Eoraptor and I have been pronouncing it wrong. I was saying what sounding like "your raptor."

Des kept asking me to read about "my raptor." hahahah

The correct pronunciation is: EE-oh-rap-tore.

The Eoraptor was an early tiny predator. He lived in the forests of South America during the middle of the Triassic Period. The Eoraptor was not a true raptor.

To read about raptors: http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/typesofdinosaurs/a/raptors.htm


Sources: http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/carnivorousdinosaurs/p/eoraptor.htm

Spinosaurus

If you've seen Jurassic Park 3, then you've seen this guy.

He may be the biggest carnivore, even bigger than the giganotosaurus. Because of his long jaw, scientists think the spinosaurus ate fish, very similar to the modern crocodile.

Spinosaurus lived during the Cretaceous Period in North Africa.

Picture from this site: http://wargames.spyz.org/convSALAMANDER.html

Info from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinosaurus

Parasaurolophus or Charonosaurus?

I see this dinosaur a lot. In dinosaur books, stickers, magnets, etc, but I never see the name of this dinosaur!

I did some research and there are two very similar dinosaurs that this could be.

Parasaurolophus lived in the woods of North America during the late Cretaceous period.

Charonosaurus's lived in the woods of Asia also during the late Cretaceous period.

Charonosaurus was slightly bigger, but other than that, they were similar.

Both were hadrosaurs, quadrupedal herbivores that lived in packs, like deer, cows, etc.

Info from: http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/typesofdinosaurs/a/hadrosaurs.htm
http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/herbivorousdinosaurs/p/parasaurolophus.htm
and
http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/herbivorousdinosaurs/p/charonosaurus.htm

Biggest Dinosaur Found (as of September 2010)

Information and Picture from: http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/herbivorousdinosaurs/p/argentinosaurus.htm

Name:

Argentinosaurus (Greek for "Argentina lizard"); pronounced ARE-jen-teen-oh-SORE-us
Habitat:

Forests of South America
Historical Period:

Middle Cretaceous (100-90 million years ago)
Size and Weight:

Up to 130 feet long and 110 tons
Diet:

Plants
Distinguishing Characteristics:

Enormous size; long neck; relatively small head
About Argentinosaurus:

As you may have guessed from its name, the remains of Argentinosaurus were dug up in present-day Argentina, in South America. To date, researchers haven't found an entire skeleton, but what they have found--four-foot long vertebrae and five-foot-long tibiae--indicate that Argentinosaurus was a truly titanic sauropod (hence its classification in some circles as a titanosaur).

Interestingly, the remains of Argentinosaurus were dug up near the fossils of another huge dinosaur--the carnivorous theropod Giganotosaurus. This has led paleontologists (and TV producers) to speculate that packs of Giganotosaurus may have hunted down full-grown Argentinosaurus adults--a chase that would have been deadly for any smaller creatures that happened to get in the way! (By the way, paleontologists in India have uncovered the remains of a possible titanosaur, Bruhathkayosaurus, that may have been even bigger than Argentinosaurus; the trouble is, no one is exactly sure what type of dinosaur this was!)

No Such Thing as a Brontosaurus

All info taken from: http://www.dinosaurfacts.org/apatosaurus

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

The Apatosaurus is the new name for Brontosaurus (which is this dinosaur’s popular title and the one that most people will know it by)At most the Apatosaurus could only hold its head up about 17 feet off the ground. However, the Apatosaurus was 70 feet long. It was among the largest of the dinosaurs. This large dinosaur tipped the scales at a staggering 80 thousand pounds (or 36,000 kg for the Europeans out there). The dinosaur resembles a smaller brachiosaurus, however, its neck stayed vertical to the ground for the most part. The neck of this dinosaur was very inflexible and it has been said that the dinosaur generally could not have raised it's neck very far off of the ground. This is due to the poor blood flow this animal would have had. If it was able to raise it's head straight up it's heart wouldn't have been able to pump blood to the head, thus killing the dinosaur over time.

LIFESTYLE

The Apatosaurus was another large plant eating animal. The tail was used as a giant counterweight due to the fact that the Apatosaurus could not put his head up in the air. Since the neck was so massive to ensure proper locomotion the tail had to be considerably large.The neck was most likely so long due to the fact that the Apatosaurus would have to eat a considerable amount of vegetation to sustain its girth. In order to eat so much food Apatosaurus would keep rocks in its stomach, so that it could swallow vegetation whole. The rocks would then esentially "chew" the food. The Apatosaurus would most likely use its neck to split through trees. Or it's neck may have been used to eat out of marshy areas that the Apastosaurus couldn't have traveled into, so it reached it's head in. The Apatosaurus was very low on the scale of intelligence in the dinosaur kingdom, and most likely moved very slow. The Apatosaurus was so large that, unlike most other dinosaurs, it had trouble staying cool (versus staying warm) and spent most of its time under a forest canopy or partially in the water.

HISTORY

Apatosaurus fossils have been found in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, United States. They probably lived here because of the mass of vegetation that would have been found here that long ago. No Apatosaurus beds have been found which contain a significant number of Apatosaurus skeletons therefore it is theorized that they did not travel in herds (unlike what the land before time may have alluded to).

The Apatosaurus lived during the late Jurassic Period, about 157-146 million years ago. There was a minor mass extinction toward the end of the Jurassic period. During this extinction, most of the Apatosarus' would have died out.

DID YOU KNOW?

At first when the brontosaurus was found, scientists believed that it was a different animal then an apatosaurus. However, it turns out that a brontosaurus was just an adult apatosaurus.

The apatosaurus probably had lips like that of a moose or a horse.

Many early scientists believe that the neck of the apatosaurus was so large so that it could traverse large lakes, however it has been proven that the body of the animal would crush under that much pressure.

CLASSIFICATION

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Family: Diplodocidae
Genus: Apatosaurus
Species: A. Excelsus

New Blog

My 2.5 year old has gotten very interested in dinosaurs and so have I. I decided to start this blog for him. Together we will learn all about dinosaurs!