Dinosaurs were probably the most exciting species to have lived on earth, centuries ago. Gigantic, fearsome and wanderers by nature, some even had feathers which meant they could fly too. Unfortunately, they went extinct 65 million years ago due to unknown reasons. Today, we are going to talk about the 5 most amazing facts about dinosaurs

1.Derived from the Greek language

The word ‘dinosaur’ as we know it, has been derived from the Greek language, where it roughly translates into ‘terrible lizards’, first sighted during the Triassic era around 234 million years ago.

Interestingly, they lived on the Earth for 150 million years before an extinction event led to disappearance of most dinosaur species.

2.Birds are said to have evolved from dinosaurs

According to some paleontologists and theorists, birds have been said to have evolved from dinosaurs. Most birds have structures that are somewhat similar to small, feathered, theropod dinosaurs and hence, it probably might have happened over centuries and multiple evolutionary stages.

So technically, dinosaurs still live among us!

3.Some dinosaurs were extremely intelligent

While dinosaurs weren’t exactly geniuses, some of them were really active, both physically and mentally. The two carnivorous species of dinosaurs, namely Deinonychus as well as Velociraptor were quite agile, smart and had the speed similar to that of a kickboxer.

4.Dinosaurs were global citizens!

From whatever mortal evidence was found, dinosaurs are believed to have existed on almost all the 7 continents of the world. Many bones and fossils unearthed across different countries proves that dinosaurs were global citizens.

5.Mammals might be as old as dinosaurs

In the year 2000, a research expedition from University of Texas, Austin unearthed fossils of what are believed to be the first signs of mammals’ existence during the Jurrasic era. Species such as Kayentatherium are believed to have exploded in the aftermath of dinosaurs’ extinction. SwitchedOnKids encourages the concept of  ‘learning is fun’, inspiring young kids to explore the beautiful animal kingdom through our exploration and fossil range of science toys, which are delivered within 1 business day across Australia.