DINOSAURS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Dinosaurs are wonderful, mysterious creatures who lived millions of years ago. These periods of time are known as Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. I believe the more we learn about these creatures, the more we know about how they lived and what our world was like back then and how it effects us today. One of the things we learned from them was about how our climate was back then. The dinosaurs had more CO2 in their atmosphere which helped the plants grow bigger and better than today's plants.Though we wouldn't be able to survive in that environment that contained high amounts of CO2.

Before the continents were separated,They were all together and formed a super continent called Pangaea. All of the continents were together until the asteroid wiped out all life on earth but the human and rat size mammals and reptiles went under ground and sadly the larger dinosaurs died out forever on earth. Today the ancestors of the meat-eating theropods can be found just look at the eagles, hawks, falcons, vultures, owls, and hunting birds. We know from the fossils what they ate, where they were from, what there species were, and what period the species was from. As we continue to dig we will learn more and more of what the world will come to be.

                Dino Fun Facts

Ankylosaurus has a club tail, spikes all around its back, a hard armor on its back. Ankylosaurus lived in the Cretaceous period. Nanotyranno is a smaller version of T-Rex and Nanotyranno has a swift and agile body an a good Hunter. Nanotyranno long back legs with 3 claws on each foot, has a head full of sharp knife like teeth, and a tail for balance when it is runing. Nanotyranno lived in the Cretaceous period. Stegosaurus lived in Jurassic period. Stegosaurus has four spikes on its tail, and                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            has 20 plates on its back when blood goes to the plates it tells the Stegosaurus females its ready to mate or to tell the rival males it wants to fight.

Where They Lived and What Their Name Means part 3

Where in the world did they live?

*Kritosaurus means "Noble lizard" ~lived in Mexico and Texas. 
*Lambeosaurus means "Lamb's lizard" ~lived in Alberta
*Leaellynasaura means "Leaelly  lizard"~ lived in Australia 
*Leptoceratops means "Slender horned face" ~ lived in Alberta
*Lesothosaurus means "lizard from Lesotho" ~ lived in Africa
*Lufengosaurus means "Lufeng lizard" ~ lived in China
*Mamenchisaurus means "Mamen lizard"~ lived in China
*Manirapters means "Hand snatcher" ~ lived in World Wide
*Massopondylus means "Massive vertebra"~ lived in Arizona
*Mononykus means "Single claw" ~lived in Mongolia
*Mosasaurs means "lizard from the Meuse"~ lived in Africa and Canada
*Mussaurus means "Mouse lizard"~ lived in Argentina
* Megalosaurus means "Great lizard"~ lived in England 
*Majungatholus means "Majunga dome" and lived in Madagascar
*Maiasaura means "Good Mother lizard"~ lived in Montana
*Nanotyrannus means "Dwarf tyrant"~ lived in Montana
*Nemegtosaurus means "lizard from Nemegt"~ lived in Mongolla 
*Nodosaurus means "Knobby lizard"~ lived in Wyoming

Megalodon-The Fiercest Shark Around

Megalodon

Megalodon (MEG-a-la-don) is 50 feet long and weighing in 50 tons. You wouldn't want to go swimming with him. Megalodon is one of the large its shark in the world! It was probably two to three times larger than today's great white shark. Come on you gotta agree that is pretty huge! 

Megalodon  means "long tooth," because its teeth were not only long but wide and had serrated edges. Megalodon had an extremely sharp sense of smell and good eyesight. Could you imagine coming across one of them today? Megalodon is a meat-eater so its a lethal predator and an apex predator which means its at the top of the food chain in its home turf. Megalodon prey went from small seals to larger prey such as the giant squad and whales. Megalodon lives in ocean waters all around the world in these two Eras Miocene and Pliocene Eras (roughly 25-5 million years ago).  http://www.history.com/shows/jurassic-fight-club-archived/interactives/dinopedia

Gastonia Is Built Like A "Tank"

 Gastonia was a (gas-toh-nee-ah) ankylosaurid dinosaur and they were built like a tank. Gastonia stood three feet tall and was between 13 and 16 feet long, and weighed about one ton. His entire body was covered by bony plates and spikes of different shapes and sizes. You wouldn't want to pet him! 


He has lots of heavy armor so he moves slow. He had poor eyesight (bet he wishes he had glasses or a magnifying glass) but a strong sense of smell and hearing (sneaking up on him would not be easy). He has a solid bony plate over its hips, which allowed him to crouch down to protect his vulnerable stomach from attacking predators. The spikes covering his body and the spikes on his tail were used like "chainsaws" as offensive weapons to protect itself from an attacking predators like Utahraptor. 


Gastonia lived in the USA, North America in the early Cretaceous Period (142-127 million years ago) and Gastonia was a plant-eater. One of Gaston neighbor was a predator named Utahraptor. Talk about neighbors who don't get along! Eeeeep!!!! 


Gastonia was named after paleontologist Robert Gaston. He made the first discovery of Gastonia fossilized remains in Moab, Utah, in 1989. Thank you Robert Gaston!

Andrewsarchus

Andrewsarchus (and-rooz-ark-us) was as a big as a rhino! Its head looks like a wolf a not so nice wolf LOL! Used to eat meats like primitive whales and had strips like a tiger. Andrewsarchus names mean "Andrews' beast" because its named after Paleontologist Roy Champman Andrews who was the one who found Andrewsarchus. Roy was the role model for Indiana Jones  and how cool is that? Imagine if that was you? It must be pretty cool to have a movie series after you!!! Roy's last name Andrews was the first part for Andrewsarchus. Andrewsarchus weighs more then a car, 15 feet long, 6 feet high, and a skull around 33 inches. It used lived in what we currently call Asia.   

Nanotyrannus The Small Version Of The T-Rex

In 1942, Charles W. Gilmore discover the first fossils of the Nanotyrannus in Wyoming.                                                                                         

Nanotyrannus is the small version of T-Rex. Think of him a mine me T-Rex. I wouldn't want to meet either of them on the street! Would you? 

                                        

                                                          T-Rex and Nanotyrannus

 Nanotyrannus is know as the "tiny tyrant" He might of been "tiny" coming in at a mere 7 ft. in height, 17 feet long and weighing bout 1 ton. Tho, that's not my definition of tiny!

 Nanotyrannus lived in the United States in the Late Cretaceous Period 67-65 millions of years ago. Nanotyrannus was a great hunter, he had sharp claws and knife-like teeth, powerful neck muscles and was a swift and agile predator. Their favorite prey were the hadrosaurs that had the pleasure of living with them. They had great vision and depth perception due to their large eyes which looked forward. 

Many paleontologists now believe that Nanotyrannus was in fact a juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex and not a separate genus of dinosaur. Partially because of the skull bones not being fused together indicating a young animal. Others believe that they might be a type of huge Dromaeosaur.  

                                                                                                                                                            

                    

http://www.history.com/shows/jurassic-fight-club-archived/interactives/dinopedia

                                           

                                                                                         

Diplodocus

DD

Diplodocus was a long-necked, whip-tailed giant, measuring about 90 feet (27 m) long with a 26 foot (8 m) long neck and a 45 foot (14 m) long tail, but its head was less than 2 feet long. It was among the longest land animals ever. Its nostrils were at the top of its head and it had peg-like teeth, but only in the front of the jaws. Its front legs were shorter than its back legs, and all had elephant-like, five-toed feet. One toe on each foot had a thumb claw, probably for protection. A fossilized Diplodocus skin impression reveals that it had a row of spines running down its back.

Lived Late Jurassic period, about 156-144 million years ago. Found in Western U.S.A.

Diplodocus was more lightly built than the other giant sauropods, and may have weighed only about 10-20 tons. Its backbone had extra bones underneath it, which had bony protrusions running both forwards and backwards (anvil shaped), a "double beam", probably for support and extra mobility of its neck and tail. It may have used its whip-like tail for protection. A recent Diplodocus skin impression was found, showing a row of spines running down the back.