The Most Fascinating and Unknown Facts about Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs have been on Earth for millions of years, but we still have so much to learn about these creatures that went extinct over 65 million years ago. Here are the most fascinating and unknown facts about dinosaurs that could very well change the way you think about them forever!

The biggest dinosaur ever was heavier than a space shuttle

The Sauroposeidon is a species of dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous Period, some 85 to 66 million years ago. A member of Titanosauria (which means giant lizard), Sauroposeidon measured up to 35 meters long and weighed as much as 110 tons (100 metric tons). This is larger than a space shuttle, making it one of largest land animals ever. It is estimated that even if a person were standing next to it, he would be dwarfed by its sheer size. This monster was able to reach such huge proportions because it had very few predators and ate only plants like giant ferns or palm trees.

Tyrannosaurus Rex may have had feathers

Tyrannosaurus Rex, or T. rex, has been a movie star for decades. We all know that he’s one of the most feared creatures to ever walk on Earth, but what you might not know is that there’s evidence that at least some T. rex had feathers. A study in 2012 compared fossilized skin from several modern birds with fossilized skin samples from dinosaurs similar to T.

Pterodactyls hunted dinosaurs

Pterodactyls were actually quite large, but they weren’t predators. Instead, they were more like modern-day bats in that they’d swoop down to snatch prey from lakesides or similar areas. They ate fish and lizards and other small reptiles, as well as mammals that ventured too far away from their nests at night. So what was a pterodactyl doing eating dinosaurs? Well, paleontologists have discovered a few examples of pterodactyls with dinosaur bones in their bellies!

Ankylosaurus survived the meteorite that killed off dinosaurs

The remains of an Ankylosaurus were discovered by a team of Chinese paleontologists in northeastern China. By studying its tail club, it was found that a piece of rock had smashed into its rear armor plating, just missing its spine. If a chunk of earth hadn’t splintered off during impact, and if it had landed exactly where it did—the ankylosaur wouldn’t have survived. In fact, no other dinosaur would have either. It would be safe to say that dinosaurs wouldn’t exist today if not for their adaptability and resilience to change.

There were flying, swimming, and even burrowing dinosaurs

We don’t know for sure how many kinds of dinosaurs there were—most researchers think that there were hundreds, if not thousands. And we don’t know what all of them looked like or how they behaved. We have a rough idea, but many animals have been found in various stages of development that show some dinosaurs changed as they aged, grew, and evolved over time. The most well-known example is probably velociraptors in Jurassic Park; it turns out that they actually bore little resemblance to the raptors we see on screen (unfortunately). Here are some lesser-known things you might not know about dinosaurs: Some had feathers, others had fur.

Some dinosaurs only came out at night

Some species of dinosaur appear to have been nocturnal. This suggests that, like many modern animals, they may have had different activity patterns than what is considered normal for modern-day lizards or crocodiles. In particular, at least a few species of feathered dinosaur seem to have been nocturnal; one study found that Sinosauropteryx prima , a small feathered dinosaur, had asymmetric feather placement on its body (this would help it become camouflaged) along with enlarged eyes (probably for seeing in low light conditions). However, even some large predatory dinosaurs like Allosaurus fragilis probably hunted at night due to their relatively small size and therefore increased ability to sneak up on prey.

Protoceratops had horns like a Triceratops, but was much smaller than it

Protoceratops probably wasn’t much of a fighter or an aggressive animal. It was only about two feet tall and it had two small horns on its nose (the rest of which were covered by its skin). These horns would have made it seem as though Protoceratops was in charge, even though it was smaller than other members of its species. A strong defense mechanism: Considering that Protoceratops had no other way to protect itself, these small horns were almost certainly used to threaten attackers and ward off predators. Imagine encountering a newborn Protoceratops; you wouldn’t be able to tell whether or not it was dangerous until you saw if one of these horns moved!

Pachycephalosaurus wore its head like a helmet

The name Pachycephalosaurus actually means thick headed lizard in Greek. It is an herbivore and one of its most notable features is its flat, rounded skull that can reach up to 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter. Even though it has a small brain, it’s believed that Pachycephalosaurus used its thick skull as a protective mechanism against predators, like Tyrannosaurus Rex. In addition to serving as a helmet-like structure, paleontologists believe that Pachycephalosaurus may have also used their skulls for sexual displays, to help determine dominance in social groups or even as weapons during times of stress.

Dinosaurs used to be much larger than we thought

Previous estimates of dinosaur weight varied dramatically, ranging from 3 to 10 tons. But new studies using fossilized trackways have led scientists to conclude that sauropods like Brontosaurus could grow to be far heavier than previously thought. At least one set of tracks discovered in Wyoming suggest that a single sauropod dinosaur (possibly a Diplodocus) was approximately 100,000 pounds – almost 10 times as heavy as previous estimates. If these figures are even close to accurate, Brontosaurus would be one heavy mother-dinosaur! The largest sauropod dinosaurs could also be some of Earth’s heaviest creatures ever: it is estimated that one very large specimen could weigh over 135 tons! Could you imagine moving something that weighs almost 135 tons?

Godzilla isn’t real...but an artist thought he could be

Director Ishirō Honda got his idea for Godzilla after reading a newspaper story in 1954. The story mentioned that there was speculation of a prehistoric island off Japan’s coast, which led Honda to wonder what sort of monster might live there. But don’t tell that to some of Godzilla’s biggest fans; they think he is real . . . or at least could be. Several species have been proposed as alternatives to big G (including one named Zilla), but they tend to fall flat on their scaly faces when considering scientific factors such as size and mass. Even some scientists consider Godzilla undescribable given his super-human origins.