Dinosaurs have always caused great mystery among the human population. Many movies have been produced such as Godzilla, Jurassic Park among others so as to try and dispel the myths surrounding these creatures. But still for most people, this is not enough to quench their curiosity surrounding these animals.
Maybe these few facts will do the tricks.
Dinosaurs were a group of pre- historic reptiles which ruled the earth from the Triassic period (225 million years ago) until the end of the Cetaceous period (66 million year ago). The word dinosaur means ‘terrible lizard’ in Greek. Some species of them were large fearsome creatures while others were very small about the size of chicken.
They have been divided into two categories: the Saurischia (lizard hipped dinosaur) and the Ornithischia (bird hipped dinosaur) according to the arrangement of the bones of the pelvis. Examples of the Saurischia are the Apatosaurus or Brontosaurus and the Tyrannosaurus a huge twenty feet high meat eater with the terrifying jaws and pointed teeth.
The heaviest dinosaur was the Brachiosaurus a swamp – dwelling herbivore weighing fifty one tones and measuring seventy nine feet from the head. They were believed to be able to travel as fast as twenty five miles per hour. Interesting to note is that scientists do no know which color these great creatures were. Some think that they may have been as colorful as the birds of air or just a plain brown- grey color.
A velogiraptor fossil was found in the Utah state of America with claws of fifteen inches on each foot which were indeed very effective hooks for catching prey.
No clear evidence is available as to why these creatures successful for so long, suddenly disappeared almost overnight in evolutionary terms. Many theories from cosmic radiation to a rapid cooling of the earth have been suggested but the truth remains a
Pre-Historic Safaris
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