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Hello my name is Ben McKay. I am going to tell you about dinosaurs, their time periods, and their characteristics. I will start out with how dinosaurs were first found. The first person to find a fossilized reptile remain was Mary Anning in 1811. She found it while she was digging up fossilized seashells with her father. The first ever-recorded was found in 1818, the dinosaur was named Iguanodon. Sir Richard Owen decided to give these extinct creatures a name; the name he gave them was dinosaur, which means terrible lizard. Paleontology didn't start out too big. Most people kept the fossils at their house, but as the years progressed paleontology became a popular science. Although mostly forgotten about during the Civil War interest in dinosaurs was revived other major finds in Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado. Now I should tell you how dinosaurs get their names. Some get their names from the people that found them, where the dinosaurs were first found, or a characteristic of the dinosaur. Some scientists used to think that dinosaurs were cold-blooded but now some scientists, like Dr. Robert Bakker, a paleontologist I met in Casper, believe that they are warm-blooded. There were three periods in which the dinosaurs lived in. There was the Triassic, the Jurassic, and the Cretaceous periods. The first period was the Triassic period. This period ranges from 245-208 million years ago. Most of the dinosaurs then were small most ranging from 4 to 5 feet long. Most of the sea life had noses like today's dolphins. The next period was the Jurassic period. This period ranged from 208-144 million years ago. The dinosaurs in this period grew much larger that the dinosaurs in the Triassic period. Most of the dinosaurs ranged from 30-60 feet long. The dominant carnivorous dinosaur in this period was the Allosaurus. The overall biggest dinosaur in this period was the Brontosaurus. The last period was the Cretaceous period. This lasted from 144-65 million years ago. The king of the dinosaurs lived in this period the mighty Tyrannosaurus-Rex. The Triceratops also lived in this period. This is my favorite period because of the Tyrannosaurus-Rex and the Triceratops. Now I will tell you about the carnivores of the dinosaur world. I will start out with Allosaurus and go Alphabetically from there. The Allosaurus lived about 150 million years ago in the late Jurassic period. The Allosaurus belonged to a group of dinosaurs called the saurisschain-meaning lizard hipped. It grew to be about 40 feet long. It used its tail for balance like today's kangaroo. The Allosaurus jaw alone was 3 feet long! The next dinosaur I will tell you about is the Coelophysis. It was a small meat-eating dinosaur. It lived in the Triassic period. The Coelophysis grew to be about 19 feet long. The next dinosaur I will tell you about is the Deinonychus. This dinosaur lived in the early Cretaceous period. It grew to about 5 ft. high and 9 ft. long. The Deinonychus had one large claw on each foot to dig into its prey with. The next dinosaur is the Gigantosaurus. It lived in the late Cretaceous period. Some scientists believe that this dinosaur was the biggest meat-eating dinosaur that ever lived. It had a length over 45 ft. long! It is thought that this dinosaur is related to the Allosaurus. The next dinosaur is the Ornithomimus. It lived in the late Cretaceous period. Its brains were quite large in comparison with its size compared to the other dinosaurs. This dinosaur probably ate eggs and small animals. The last carnivorous animal I will tell you about is the Tyrannosaurus. It lived in the late Cretaceous period. It stood 20 ft. tall 39 ft. long. Its teeth were 6 in. long. Now I will tell you about the herbivores of the dinosaur world. I will start out with the Brachiosaurus. The Brachiosaurus stood 43 ft. tall and 80 ft. long. It probably fed on tall trees. The next herbivore I will tell you about is the Diplodicus. It lived during the Jurassic period. It was about 87 ft. long. It probably grazed in shallow marshes. The next dinosaur I will tell you about is the Iguanodon. It lived in the early Cretaceous period. It stood about 15 ft. tall and 25 ft. long. The last herbivore I will tell you about is the Triceratops. It lived during the Cretaceous period. The Triceratops had three horns sticking out of their heads. It was about 6 ft. long. Thanks for reading my essay on dinosaurs. |