The Most Famous Dinosaur

I'm pretty sure you guys all know about the Tyrannosaurus Rex.  Here are facts about it.  It's name means "tyrant lizard king."  There are about 20 skeletons that are about 90 percent complete. It can grow up to be 12 meters (40 feet) long.  It weighed up to 5 tons.  Rexes bites were so powerful it could eat a 10th grader in one bite.  Its tail wasn't used for just decoration,  It was used to balance its massive head.  Rex had a brain twice the size of other carnivores.  It was faster, and it had better vision.  It lived 65 million years ago in the late Cretaceous.  In 1990, a complete Rex was found and sold for 8.36 million dollars!  If T-Rex was around today, it would dent the metal on a car.  It could rip hundreds of pounds of meat in just one bite. It's teeth were 5 inches long! If it were to trip and fall, it would probably die because it's so big and has tiny arms so it wouldn't be able to catch itself.

2 birds

   Now  I'm going to tell you about the Archaeopteryx. It is the most valuable dinosaur in the world. If you find a full fossil you can get over $16 million each. They were15-20 inches long, and weighed 1 pound. They lived in the late Jurassic period about 156-150 million years ago. They were found in Southern Germany and Europe.  Archaeopteryx was the first bird ever found. It lived near lagoons with soft mud. It could run 30 miles per hour. It was first found in 1861. The Archaeopteryx limb hallow bones. Some scientist think that dinosaurs didn't go extinct, they just evolved into a bird. Now I'll talk about the Baptornis. Baptornis means "diving bird."  It lived in shallow waters in the Cretaceous period, 83-80 million years ago. It was found in central North America. It is 3 feet long and weighs 15 pounds. It's relatives are  the Hesperornis. The dinosaur expert, Othniel Charles Marsh discovered  the bones in late 1870's. Baptornis was one of the first birds discovered. It has little wings that might have helped it steer. They're feet were set back so it could hardly walk. It is normally found in chalk, a type of rock formed from shore.  No complete  fossils are found yet. It only went on land to lay eggs and raise there young.

Archaeopteryx

 

Baptornis

My Mom and Dad's favorite Dinosaurs

Triceratops

Velociraptor

Triceratops was the last horned dinosaur. It was biggest horned face. They have 800 teeth. Triceratops means ''three horned face.'' They lived in the late Cretaceous period 72-65 million years ago. It was 25 feet long 9.5 feet tall and weighed 6-10 tons. It was named 1889. It's two top horns were 3feet long. There  frill reached the widths of  7 feet. Paleontologist thought that Triceratops horns belonged to a buffalo. Now the Velociraptor. They have one seven inch long sickle claw on each foot. They can run up to 40 miles per hour. It was found in 1924 in Mongolia. It was 6 feet long  3 feet high and weighed 30 pounds. Velociraptor means ''swift lizard.'' They lived in the late Cretaceous period 83-70 million years ago. They are one of the smallest raptors. Velociraptor was found by the true Indiana Jones Roy Chapman Andrews.

Water creatures

Elasmosaurus

Kronosaurus

Ophthalmosaurus

Elasmosaurus had a 6 meters neck. Elasmosaurus ate fish. It shot its long neck out to catch fish. Elasmosaurus lived in the late Cretaceous. Elasmosaurus was 49 feet long. Elasmosaurus had wing like flippers. They had 70 vertebrae. Kronosaurus had a skull twice the size of  T-Rex. The largest Kronosaurus skull ever found was 10 feet long. They lived in the Jurassic 165-150 million years ago. They were 25 meters long and had 4 flippers that were 3 meters. Kronosaurus had 2 nostrils on each side of its snout so it could smell different  directions and find more food. Ophthalmosaurus jumps out of to shake of sea lice. Ophthalmosaurus has to have there baby tail first because they are reptiles. Ophthalmosaurus has eyes the size of golf balls.

3 giant plant-eaters

Brachiosaurus

Diploducus

Seismosaurus

Brachiosaurus grew 84 feet in length. It could reach up to the nearest tree tops. It's nose was on top of there head. It could go under water and have that nose stick right up to breath. Now Diploducus. It grew up to be 100 feet in length. If you challenged him to a basket ball game he could slam dunk it at both ends of the court. Diploducus could snap trees like opening a bag of chips, it was that easy. Now the amazing Seismosaurus. It grew 125 feet in length. Seismosaurus means ''the earth shaker.''

2 giant meat-eaters

Giganotosaurus

Spinosaurus

Giganotosaurus was huge. It was bigger than T-Rex. It could take down a Brachiosaurus. It had one giant claw  

in the middle. Spinosaurus was the longest meat-eater ever. It was 40-50 feet long. Spinosauruses spine was 7 feet high. Spinosaurus had a sail for changing its body heat.

Fun Fact

The first spinosaurus fossils were destroyed in World War 2.

Pterosaurs

Quetzalcoatlus

Rhamphorhynchus

Pteranodon

 
Rhamphorhynchus was a small flying reptile. It belonged to a group called Rhamphorhyncoids. Rhamphorhyncoids had long tails. Rhamphorhynchus had a tail that looked like a kite. Next, Pteranodon. Amazingly, Pteranodon has no teeth. Pteranodon swallowed its fish whole. Pteranodon had a wing span of 23 feet long. Last picture, Quetzalcoatlus. It had  wing span of 39 feet long making it the biggest Pterosaur ever. It ate dinosaur carcasses.