How It Works-Book Of Dinosaurs

Phylogenetic tree

CHINA

USA,

CANADA

PERMIAN

TRIASSIC

JURASSIC

Tetanurans

Tyrannosauroids

Theropods

CRETACEOUS

250 My

208 My

146 My

66 My

Coelurosaurs

42

T-rex had stronger

arms than human beingsT-rex is often ridiculed for its little arms, but they were much stronger than you imagine. They were used for grasping prey, could move rapidly and were capable of lifting around 200kg (440lb), more than three times as much as an adult man.

41

T-rex had teeth the size

of bananasThe largest Tyrannosaurus rex teeth measured 30cm (12in) in length. There has been much debate as to what they were used for, but scientists generally agree that T-rex was both a hunter and a scavenger. Broken T-rex teeth found in the fossilised tailbones of Hadrosaurs indicate that hunts weren’t always successful.

43

The most expensive fossil is worth more

than $8 millionThe famous Tyrannosaurus rex fossil known as Sue fetched $8.36 million at auction back in 1997 and is likely to be worth signifi

cantly more than that today.

44

There was a dinosaur called ‘Irritator’

Irritator was a fi

sh-eating spinosaur fi

rst described

in 1996. It got its name because the fossilised head had been modifi

ed by fossil hunters with car body

fi ller to make it look more impressive. The scientists understandably found this very irritating. 45

Dinosaurs didn’t live

in the seaDinosaurs were land animals and were not closely related to the famous sea-dwelling Plesiosaur, but Spinosaurus was semi-aquatic and could run along the riverbed in pursuit of food.

SpinosaurusMid CretaceousAfrica

47

Archaeopteryx is the fi

rst fossil

evidence of evolutionArchaeopteryx was the fi

rst feathered

dinosaur to be discovered, linking birds and dinosaurs. The breakthrough came in 1861, just two years after Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution.

46

No dinosaur could fl

y

Dinosaurs were all land-dwelling reptiles, and despite the fact that they are the ancestors of modern birds, none of them could fl

y. They

could probably glide, though.

48

Dinosaurs were neither warm nor

cold bloodedIt was long thought that dinosaurs were cold blooded, like reptiles, but new evidence suggests that they were mesothermic – able to burn energy to make some body heat, but not warm blooded like mammals.

© Sol90; NobuTamura; H. Zell; Think stock

Found in...The T-rex was found in what is now North America, just like its cousins the Daspletosaurus, the Gorgosaurus and the Albertosaurus. The Tarbosaurus and the Guanlong, a primitive tyrannosaur of the Jurassic period, were discovered in Asia.

ArchaeopteryxLate JurassicGermany

Data sheet

LENGTH

12.5m

WEIGHT

5,000kg

DIET

Carnivorous

GENUS

Tyrannosaurus

CLASSIFICATION Theropoda;

Coelurosauria;

Tyrannosauridea

DID YOU KNOW? (^) Most dinosaur fossils have pieces missing, and are reconstructed using similarities with other related species