Triceratops Facts!1. The name "Triceratops" is a bit misleading.Triceratops is Greek for "three-horned face," but this dinosaur had only two real horns; the third, much shorter "horn" on its snout was made from different material. (By the way, fossils have been discovered of a related, two-horned dinosaur called Diceratops, but some paleontologists think this was really a species of Triceratops.)
2. Triceratops was on T. Rex's lunch menu.Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus Rex occupied the same ecosystem (the marshes and forests of western North America) at the same time (about 65 million years ago). Therefore, it's reasonable to infer that T. Rex occasionally preyed on Triceratops, though only Hollywood special-effects wizards know how it managed to evade this plant-eater's sharp horns. (See this article for a description of a battle between T. Rex and Triceratops.) 3. Triceratops' skull was one-third the length of its entire body.Part of what makes Triceratops such a recognizable dinosaur is the enormous size of its skull, which, with its backward-pointing frill, could attain a length of over seven feet. Unbelievably, the skulls of other ceratopsians (such as Centrosaurus and Styracosaurus) were even bigger and more elaborate. 4. The paleontologist who named Triceratops thought it was an ancient bison.In 1887, the famous paleontologist Othniel C. Marsh examined a partial Triceratops skull, complete with horns--and promptly assigned the remains to the grazing mammal Bison alticornis, which didn't evolve until tens of millions of years later. Fortunately for his reputation, Marsh quickly reversed the error. www.about.com |
T-Rex Facts!1. Tyrannosaurus Sue is the world's most complete T. Rex skeleton.In 1990, fossil hunter Sue Hendrickson discovered an 85-percent complete, full-grown T. Rex skeleton during an expedition in South Dakota. Legal troubles ensued, with the result that Tyrannosaurus Sue was auctioned off to the Field Museum of Natural Historyin Chicago for $8 million, a dinosaur fossil record.
2. T. Rex hatchlings may have been covered in feathers.We all know that dinosaurs evolved into birds, and that some carnivorous dinosaurs (especially raptors) were covered in feathers. Some paleontologists believe that all tyrannosaurs, including T. Rex, must have been covered in feathers at some point during their life cycles, most likely when they first hatched out of their eggs. 3. T Rex also had very bad breath...Granted, most dinosaurs didn't brush their teeth during the Mesozoic Era, and very few of them flossed. Some experts think the shards of rotten, bacteria-infested meat lodged in its numerous teeth gave T. Rex a "septic bite," which may have infected (and eventually killed) wounded prey. 4. Female T. Rex were bigger than the males.We don't yet know for sure, but there's good reason to believe (based on the size of existing fossils and the shapes of their hips) that female T. Rex outweighed their male counterparts by a few thousand pounds, a trait known as sexual dimorphism. Why? One reason may be that females of the species had to, well, lay clutches of T. Rex-sized eggs. 5. No one knows why T. Rex's arms were so short.Did Tyrannosaurus Rex use its stunted arms to push itself off the ground after restful naps, or to clasp struggling prey close to its chest? Or is it possible that this predator's arms were completely useless, and would have disappeared entirely (as happened with snakes) after another few million years of evolution? No one has a clue, but this article discusses the issue further. www.about.com |
Allosaurus Facts!1. Allosaurus may have preyed on Stegosaurus.Paleontologists have unearthed solid evidence that Allosaurus preyed on (or at least occasionally tussled with) Stegosaurus: an Allosaurus vertebra with a puncture wound that matches the shape of a Stegosaurus tail spike (or "thagomizer"), and a Stegosaurus neck bone bearing an Allosaurus-shaped bite mark. (See this article for a description of a battle between Allosaurus and Stegosaurus.)
2. The typical Allosaurus lived for about 25 years.Estimating a dinosaur's life span is always a tricky matter, but based on the voluminous fossil evidence, paleontologists believe Allosaurus attained its full adult size by age 15. Barring disease, starvation or thagomizer wounds from angrystegosaurs, this dinosaur may have been capable of living another 10 or 15 years. 3. "Big Al" is the most famous Allosaurus fossil.It was only in 1991--after a full century of Allosaurus discoveries--that researchers unearthed an exquisitely preserved, near-complete fossil, which they promptly dubbed "Big Al." Big Al didn't live a very happy life: analysis of its bones reveals numerous fractures and bacterial infections, which doomed this 26-foot-long teenaged dinosaur to an early death. 4. Allosaurus regularly shed and replaced its teeth.Like many predatory dinosaurs (not to mention modern crocodiles), Allosaurus constantly grew, shed and replaced its teeth, some of which averaged three or four inches in length. For this reason, it's possible to buy real, fossilized Allosaurus teeth for reasonable prices--meaning a few hundred dollars each! 5. There's no evidence that Allosaurus hunted in packs.Paleontologists have long speculated that the only way Allosaurus could have preyed on the huge sauropods of its day was if it hunted in cooperative packs. It's a pretty picture, but the fact is that even modern big cats don't team up to bring down full-grown elephants--so Allosaurus individuals probably hunted smaller prey on their own. www.about.com |