How It Works-Book Of Dinosaurs

92

Dinosaurs ran

along riverbeds

Fossilised dinosaur tracks found in

Australia reveal a superhighway where

two-legged dinosaurs travelled on

tiptoe through a fast-moving river.

100

Mammals

used to

eat dinosaurs

Repenomamus robustus was a

1m (3.3ft)-long mammal that

lived approximately 125 million

years ago. One specimen was

found with dinosaur remains

inside it.

99

Raptors had

feathers

Of all the dinosaurs, the most

feathery were the theropods.

Velociraptors were covered in a

layer of feathers, and so too

was T-rex. Many other

dinosaurs had spiny quills or

feathery stubs.

101

Brontosaurus might

have been a real

dinosaur after all

Fossils were mixed up and the head of a

Camarasaurus was placed on the body of an

Apatosaurus. However, in 2015, a new study of

the bones revealed that Brontosaurus has a

longer and thinner neck than Apatosaurus and

thus might be a distinct species after all.

86

More than

100 different

dinosaurs lived

in Britain

Britain used to form a land

bridge that connected Europe

to North America, and has

been described as a dinosaur

paradise. It was home to over

100 different species, including

armoured ankylosaurs, giant

sauropods and three different

types of fearsome tyrannosaur.

88

Most dinosaur

fossils were found

by amateurs

There are many more amateur fossil

hunters than professionals, and they

can cover much more ground. The

largest T-rex fossil ever was found by

an amateur.

87

There’s no actual bone

in a dinosaur fossil

When dinosaurs died, their bones were covered in

sediment that was compressed and turned to

rock. Over time, the bone itself dissolved away,

leaving a bone-shaped hole in the rock, which

then fi lled with minerals, forming a cast.

91

Fossilised

footprints tell

us how they moved

Preserved dinosaur tracks

revealed some theropods could

run at 43.5kmh (27mph).

89

There are

two main

types of fossil

Body fossils show the

actual shape of dinosaur

remains, while trace fossils

show evidence of their lives,

like footprints and nests.

94

Dinosaur fossils are found on all

seven continents

Dinosaur fossils have been found in the very northern parts of

Canada, right down to the frozen wastes of Antarctica. © DEA Pic t ure Librar y / UIG/REX; Thin k stock; Lisa A nd res

FLAMING

CLIFFS

Gobi Desert,

Mongolia

ZHUCHENG

Shandong, China

LARK QUARRY

Queensland, Australia

BAHARIYA FORMATION

Western Desert, Egypt

Diplodocus

Late Jurassic

North America

Iguanodon

Early Cretaceous

Europe,

North America

Megalosaurus

Mid Jurassic

Europe

Utahraptor

Early Cretaceous

North America

Argentinosaurus,

weighed the

same as a

Boeing 737

77 tons

FACT 90

(^) Smilodon, the sabre-toothed cat, first appeared over 62 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs
93
The most ancient
dinosaur fossils were
found in Tanzania
One of the earliest-ever dinosaur fossils found is a
243-million-year-old dog-sized dinosaur called
Nyasasaurus parringtoni. Bones from two different
individuals were excavated in the 1930s, but
weren’t properly studied until 2012.