The Jaisalmer Formation is a Middle to Late Jurassic -aged geologic formation located in India near the city of Jaisalmer that consists mainly of marine deposits. The formation was first identified and defined by geologist Richard Dixon Oldham in 1886.
127-654: Dinosaur remains are among the known fossils recovered from this formation. Strophodus jaisalmerensis , a hybodont , was named after this formation and the Jaisalmer District where its holotype was found. The Badabag, Fort, Joyan and Hamira members represent the Middle Jurassic Bajocian and Bathonian stages, while the Jajiya and Kuldhar members represent the Middle Jurassic Callovian and
254-607: A gazetteer compiled by Chang Qu ( 常璩 ) during the Western Jin Dynasty (265–316), reported the discovery of dragon bones at Wucheng in Sichuan Province. Villagers in central China have long unearthed fossilized "dragon bones" for use in traditional medicines . In Europe , dinosaur fossils were generally believed to be the remains of giants and other biblical creatures. Scholarly descriptions of what would now be recognized as dinosaur bones first appeared in
381-510: A sacrum composed of three or more fused vertebrae (three are found in some other archosaurs, but only two are found in Herrerasaurus ); and a perforate acetabulum , or hip socket, with a hole at the center of its inside surface (closed in Saturnalia tupiniquim , for example). Another difficulty of determining distinctly dinosaurian features is that early dinosaurs and other archosaurs from
508-421: A "pillar-erect" configuration of the hip joint, where instead of having a projection from the femur insert on a socket on the hip, the upper pelvic bone was rotated to form an overhanging shelf. Dinosaur fossils have been known for millennia, although their true nature was not recognized. The Chinese considered them to be dragon bones and documented them as such. For example, Huayang Guo Zhi ( 華陽國志 ),
635-488: A controversial taxon that was recently confirmed to exist after archived photos were uncovered. Bruhathkayosaurus was a titanosaur and would have most likely weighed more than even Marrapunisaurus . Recent size estimates in 2023 have placed this sauropod reaching lengths of up to 44 m (144 ft) long and a colossal weight range of around 110 000 – 170 000 kg ( 240 000 – 370 000 lb), if these upper estimates up true, Bruhathkayosaurus would have rivaled
762-448: A corresponding inwardly facing distinct head on the femur. Their erect posture enabled early dinosaurs to breathe easily while moving, which likely permitted stamina and activity levels that surpassed those of "sprawling" reptiles . Erect limbs probably also helped support the evolution of large size by reducing bending stresses on limbs. Some non-dinosaurian archosaurs, including rauisuchians , also had erect limbs but achieved this by
889-632: A dinosaur. In it he described and named a sauropod tooth , " Rutellum impicatum ", that had been found in Caswell, near Witney , Oxfordshire. Between 1815 and 1824, the Rev William Buckland , the first Reader of Geology at the University of Oxford, collected more fossilized bones of Megalosaurus and became the first person to describe a non-avian dinosaur in a scientific journal . The second non-avian dinosaur genus to be identified, Iguanodon ,
1016-537: A femur of Tyrannosaurus preserved soft, flexible tissue within, including blood vessels , bone matrix , and connective tissue (bone fibers) that had retained their microscopic structure. This discovery suggested that original soft tissues could be preserved over geological time, with multiple mechanisms having been proposed. Later, in 2009, Schweitzer and colleagues reported that a Brachylophosaurus femur preserved similar microstructures, and immunohistochemical techniques (based on antibody binding) demonstrated
1143-422: A group known as archosaurs, which also includes modern crocodilians. Within the archosaur group, dinosaurs are differentiated most noticeably by their gait. Dinosaur legs extend directly beneath the body, whereas the legs of lizards and crocodilians sprawl out to either side. Collectively, dinosaurs as a clade are divided into two primary branches, Saurischia and Ornithischia. Saurischia includes those taxa sharing
1270-415: A mixture of proteins , polysaccharides , and water. For additional structure or protection, pliant skeletons may be supported by rigid skeletons. Organisms that have pliant skeletons typically live in water, which supports body structure in the absence of a rigid skeleton. Rigid skeletons are not capable of movement when stressed, creating a strong support system most common in terrestrial animals . Such
1397-482: A more recent common ancestor with birds than with Ornithischia, while Ornithischia includes all taxa sharing a more recent common ancestor with Triceratops than with Saurischia. Anatomically, these two groups can be distinguished most noticeably by their pelvic structure. Early saurischians—"lizard-hipped", from the Greek sauros ( σαῦρος ) meaning "lizard" and ischion ( ἰσχίον ) meaning "hip joint"—retained
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#17328917694231524-583: A now lost partial vertebral neural arch described in 1878. Extrapolating from the illustration of this bone, the animal may have been 58 meters (190 ft) long and weighed 122 400 kg ( 269 800 lb). However, recent research have placed Amphicoelias from the long, gracile diplodocid to the shorter but much stockier rebbachisaurid. Now renamed as Maraapunisaurus , this sauropod now stands as much as 40 meters (130 ft) long and weigh as much as 120 000 kg ( 260 000 lb). Another contender of this title includes Bruhathkayosaurus ,
1651-433: A period of time, with estimates ranging from 5–10 million years to 21 million years. When dinosaurs appeared, they were not the dominant terrestrial animals. The terrestrial habitats were occupied by various types of archosauromorphs and therapsids , like cynodonts and rhynchosaurs . Their main competitors were the pseudosuchians , such as aetosaurs , ornithosuchids and rauisuchians, which were more successful than
1778-652: A potential food source, radiated in the Late Triassic. Early sauropodomorphs did not have sophisticated mechanisms for processing food in the mouth, and so must have employed other means of breaking down food farther along the digestive tract. The general homogeneity of dinosaurian faunas continued into the Middle and Late Jurassic, where most localities had predators consisting of ceratosaurians , megalosauroids , and allosauroids , and herbivores consisting of stegosaurian ornithischians and large sauropods. Examples of this include
1905-656: A presentation about fossil reptiles to the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1841, but reports of the time show that Owen did not mention the word "dinosaur", nor recognize dinosaurs as a distinct group of reptiles in his address. He introduced the Dinosauria only in the revised text version of his talk published in April 1842. With the backing of Prince Albert , the husband of Queen Victoria , Owen established
2032-599: A review paper by Paul Sereno in 1998, were accompanied by increases in the number of published phylogenetic trees for dinosaurs. Dinosaur fossils are not limited to bones, but also include imprints or mineralized remains of skin coverings, organs, and other tissues. Of these, skin coverings based on keratin proteins are most easily preserved because of their cross-linked , hydrophobic molecular structure. Fossils of keratin-based skin coverings or bony skin coverings are known from most major groups of dinosaurs. Dinosaur fossils with scaly skin impressions have been found since
2159-549: A series of studies that likewise argued for active lifestyles in dinosaurs based on anatomical and ecological evidence (see § Physiology ), which were subsequently summarized in his 1986 book The Dinosaur Heresies . New revelations were supported by an increase in dinosaur discoveries. Major new dinosaur discoveries have been made by paleontologists working in previously unexplored regions, including India, South America, Madagascar, Antarctica, and most significantly China. Across theropods, sauropodomorphs, and ornithischians,
2286-402: A single tail fin as in the pinnipeds (seals). In the whale, the cervical vertebrae are typically fused, an adaptation trading flexibility for stability during swimming. The skeleton consists of both fused and individual bones supported and supplemented by ligaments, tendons, muscles and cartilage. It serves as a scaffold which supports organs, anchors muscles, and protects organs such as
2413-603: A sister group to Dinosauria, including a large anterior trochanter, metatarsals II and IV of subequal length, reduced contact between ischium and pubis, the presence of a cnemial crest on the tibia and of an ascending process on the astragalus, and many others. A variety of other skeletal features are shared by dinosaurs. However, because they either are common to other groups of archosaurs or were not present in all early dinosaurs, these features are not considered to be synapomorphies. For example, as diapsids , dinosaurs ancestrally had two pairs of Infratemporal fenestrae (openings in
2540-819: A skeleton type used by animals that live in water are more for protection (such as barnacle and snail shells) or for fast-moving animals that require additional support of musculature needed for swimming through water. Rigid skeletons are formed from materials including chitin (in arthropods), calcium compounds such as calcium carbonate (in stony corals and mollusks ) and silicate (for diatoms and radiolarians ). Hydrostatic skeletons are flexible cavities within an animal that provide structure through fluid pressure, occurring in some types of soft-bodied organisms , including jellyfish, flatworms , nematodes , and earthworms. The walls of these cavities are made of muscle and connective tissue. In addition to providing structure for an animal's body, hydrostatic skeletons transmit
2667-484: A smaller number of bones than other terrestrial vertebrates. Birds also lack teeth or even a true jaw , instead having evolved a beak , which is far more lightweight. The beaks of many baby birds have a projection called an egg tooth , which facilitates their exit from the amniotic egg. The skeleton, which forms the support structure inside the fish is either made of cartilage as in the Chondrichthyes , or bones as in
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#17328917694232794-490: A universally agreed-upon list of their distinguishing features, nearly all dinosaurs discovered so far share certain modifications to the ancestral archosaurian skeleton, or are clearly descendants of older dinosaurs showing these modifications. Although some later groups of dinosaurs featured further modified versions of these traits, they are considered typical for Dinosauria; the earliest dinosaurs had them and passed them on to their descendants. Such modifications, originating in
2921-463: A variety of waterbirds , diversified rapidly at the beginning of the Paleogene period, entering ecological niches left vacant by the extinction of Mesozoic dinosaur groups such as the arboreal enantiornithines , aquatic hesperornithines , and even the larger terrestrial theropods (in the form of Gastornis , eogruiids , bathornithids , ratites, geranoidids , mihirungs , and " terror birds "). It
3048-535: A vertebral column, and their skeletons vary, including hard-shelled exoskeleton ( arthropods and most molluscs ), plated internal shells (e.g. cuttlebones in some cephalopods ) or rods (e.g. ossicles in echinoderms ), hydrostatically supported body cavities (most), and spicules ( sponges ). Cartilage is a rigid connective tissue that is found in the skeletal systems of vertebrates and invertebrates. The term skeleton comes from Ancient Greek σκελετός ( skeletós ) 'dried up'. Sceleton
3175-430: Is 39.7 meters (130 ft) long. There were larger dinosaurs, but knowledge of them is based entirely on a small number of fragmentary fossils. Most of the largest herbivorous specimens on record were discovered in the 1970s or later, and include the massive Argentinosaurus , which may have weighed 80 000 to 100 000 kilograms (88 to 110 short tons) and reached lengths of 30 to 40 meters (98 to 131 ft); some of
3302-699: Is a synapsid ). None of them had the erect hind limb posture characteristic of true dinosaurs. Dinosaurs were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates of the Mesozoic Era , especially the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Other groups of animals were restricted in size and niches; mammals , for example, rarely exceeded the size of a domestic cat and were generally rodent-sized carnivores of small prey. Dinosaurs have always been recognized as an extremely varied group: over 900 non-avian dinosaur genera have been confidently identified (2018) with 1124 species (2016). Estimates put
3429-491: Is a type of dense connective tissue , a type of mineralized tissue that gives rigidity and a honeycomb-like three-dimensional internal structure. Bones also produce red and white blood cells and serve as calcium and phosphate storage at the cellular level. Other types of tissue found in bones include bone marrow , endosteum and periosteum , nerves , blood vessels and cartilage. During embryonic development , bones are developed individually from skeletogenic cells in
3556-584: Is an archaic form of the word. Skeletons can be defined by several attributes. Solid skeletons consist of hard substances, such as bone , cartilage , or cuticle . These can be further divided by location; internal skeletons are endoskeletons, and external skeletons are exoskeletons. Skeletons may also be defined by rigidity, where pliant skeletons are more elastic than rigid skeletons. Fluid or hydrostatic skeletons do not have hard structures like solid skeletons, instead functioning via pressurized fluids. Hydrostatic skeletons are always internal. An exoskeleton
3683-463: Is an external skeleton that covers the body of an animal, serving as armor to protect an animal from predators. Arthropods have exoskeletons that encase their bodies, and have to undergo periodic moulting or ecdysis as the animals grow. The shells of molluscs are another form of exoskeleton. Exoskeletons provide surfaces for the attachment of muscles, and specialized appendanges of the exoskeleton can assist with movement and defense. In arthropods,
3810-465: Is an inexact art, and reconstructing the muscles and other organs of the living animal is, at best, a process of educated guesswork. The tallest and heaviest dinosaur known from good skeletons is Giraffatitan brancai (previously classified as a species of Brachiosaurus ). Its remains were discovered in Tanzania between 1907 and 1912. Bones from several similar-sized individuals were incorporated into
3937-755: Is based in part on preservation bias , as large, sturdy bones are more likely to last until they are fossilized. Many dinosaurs were quite small, some measuring about 50 centimeters (20 inches) in length. The first dinosaur fossils were recognized in the early 19th century, with the name "dinosaur" (meaning "terrible lizard") being coined by Sir Richard Owen in 1842 to refer to these "great fossil lizards". Since then, mounted fossil dinosaur skeletons have been major attractions at museums worldwide, and dinosaurs have become an enduring part of popular culture . The large sizes of some dinosaurs, as well as their seemingly monstrous and fantastic nature, have ensured their regular appearance in best-selling books and films, such as
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4064-459: Is between 1 and 10 metric tons (1.1 and 11.0 short tons). This contrasts sharply with the average size of Cenozoic mammals, estimated by the National Museum of Natural History as about 2 to 5 kg (4.4 to 11.0 lb). The sauropods were the largest and heaviest dinosaurs. For much of the dinosaur era, the smallest sauropods were larger than anything else in their habitat, and the largest
4191-414: Is cartilage which in mammals is found mainly in the joint areas. In other animals, such as the cartilaginous fishes , which include the sharks , the skeleton is composed entirely of cartilage . The segmental pattern of the skeleton is present in all vertebrates, with basic units being repeated, such as in the vertebral column and the ribcage. Bones are rigid organs providing structural support for
4318-617: Is derived from a variety of fossil and non-fossil records, including fossilized bones, feces , trackways , gastroliths , feathers , impressions of skin, internal organs and other soft tissues . Many fields of study contribute to our understanding of dinosaurs, including physics (especially biomechanics ), chemistry , biology , and the Earth sciences (of which paleontology is a sub-discipline). Two topics of particular interest and study have been dinosaur size and behavior. Current evidence suggests that dinosaur average size varied through
4445-570: Is now at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, while Marsh's is at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University . World War II caused a pause in palaeontological research; after the war, research attention was also diverted increasingly to fossil mammals rather than dinosaurs, which were seen as sluggish and cold-blooded. At the end of the 1960s, however,
4572-644: Is often stated that mammals out-competed the neornithines for dominance of most terrestrial niches but many of these groups co-existed with rich mammalian faunas for most of the Cenozoic Era. Terror birds and bathornithids occupied carnivorous guilds alongside predatory mammals, and ratites are still fairly successful as midsized herbivores; eogruiids similarly lasted from the Eocene to Pliocene , becoming extinct only very recently after over 20 million years of co-existence with many mammal groups. Dinosaurs belong to
4699-416: Is used in some invertebrates, for instance in the hinge of bivalve shells or the mesoglea of cnidarians such as jellyfish . Pliant skeletons are beneficial because only muscle contractions are needed to bend the skeleton; upon muscle relaxation, the skeleton will return to its original shape. Cartilage is one material that a pliant skeleton may be composed of, but most pliant skeletons are formed from
4826-693: Is wider and shallower than the male pelvis. Female pelvises also have an enlarged pelvic outlet and a wider and more circular pelvic inlet. The angle between the pubic bones is known to be sharper in males, which results in a more circular, narrower, and near heart-shaped pelvis. Invertebrates are defined by a lack of vertebral column, and they do not have bone skeletons. Arthropods have exoskeletons and echinoderms have endoskeletons. Some soft-bodied organisms, such as jellyfish and earthworms , have hydrostatic skeletons. The skeletons of arthropods , including insects , crustaceans , and arachnids , are cuticle exoskeletons. They are composed of chitin secreted by
4953-528: The Jurassic Park franchise. Persistent public enthusiasm for the animals has resulted in significant funding for dinosaur science, and new discoveries are regularly covered by the media. Under phylogenetic nomenclature , dinosaurs are usually defined as the group consisting of the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of Triceratops and modern birds (Neornithes), and all its descendants. It has also been suggested that Dinosauria be defined with respect to
5080-437: The blue whale and Perucetus colossus as one of the largest animals to have ever existed. The largest carnivorous dinosaur was Spinosaurus , reaching a length of 12.6 to 18 meters (41 to 59 ft) and weighing 7 to 20.9 metric tons (7.7 to 23.0 short tons). Other large carnivorous theropods included Giganotosaurus , Carcharodontosaurus , and Tyrannosaurus . Therizinosaurus and Deinocheirus were among
5207-666: The Anisian epoch of the Triassic, approximately 243 million years ago, which is the age of Nyasasaurus from the Manda Formation of Tanzania. However, its known fossils are too fragmentary to identify it as a dinosaur or only a close relative. The referral of the Manda Formation to the Anisian is also uncertain. Regardless, dinosaurs existed alongside non-dinosaurian ornithodirans for
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5334-457: The Carnian pluvial event . Dinosaur evolution after the Triassic followed changes in vegetation and the location of continents. In the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic, the continents were connected as the single landmass Pangaea , and there was a worldwide dinosaur fauna mostly composed of coelophysoid carnivores and early sauropodomorph herbivores. Gymnosperm plants (particularly conifers ),
5461-613: The Ischigualasto and Santa Maria Formations of Argentina and Brazil, and the Pebbly Arkose Formation of Zimbabwe. The Ischigualasto Formation ( radiometrically dated at 231–230 million years old ) has produced the early saurischian Eoraptor , originally considered a member of the Herrerasauridae but now considered to be an early sauropodomorph, along with the herrerasaurids Herrerasaurus and Sanjuansaurus , and
5588-596: The Late Jurassic Oxfordian stages. The Fort Member is the most extensively studied and consists of fine to medium grain sandstones and oolitic limestones. The Badabag Member consists of intraformational conglomerate and is fossil bearing. The Jaisalmer district of India is a landlocked district in the state of Rajasthan . However, during the Middle Jurassic, the Jaisalmer Formation was located on
5715-555: The Late Jurassic epoch , and are the only dinosaur lineage known to have survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event approximately 66 mya. Dinosaurs can therefore be divided into avian dinosaurs —birds—and the extinct non-avian dinosaurs , which are all dinosaurs other than birds. Dinosaurs are varied from taxonomic , morphological and ecological standpoints. Birds, at over 11,000 living species , are among
5842-484: The Late Triassic epoch are often poorly known and were similar in many ways; these animals have sometimes been misidentified in the literature. Dinosaurs stand with their hind limbs erect in a manner similar to most modern mammals , but distinct from most other reptiles, whose limbs sprawl out to either side. This posture is due to the development of a laterally facing recess in the pelvis (usually an open socket) and
5969-645: The Morrison Formation of North America and Tendaguru Beds of Tanzania. Dinosaurs in China show some differences, with specialized metriacanthosaurid theropods and unusual, long-necked sauropods like Mamenchisaurus . Ankylosaurians and ornithopods were also becoming more common, but primitive sauropodomorphs had become extinct. Conifers and pteridophytes were the most common plants. Sauropods, like earlier sauropodomorphs, were not oral processors, but ornithischians were evolving various means of dealing with food in
6096-487: The Natural History Museum, London , to display the national collection of dinosaur fossils and other biological and geological exhibits. In 1858, William Parker Foulke discovered the first known American dinosaur, in marl pits in the small town of Haddonfield, New Jersey . (Although fossils had been found before, their nature had not been correctly discerned.) The creature was named Hadrosaurus foulkii . It
6223-496: The Osteichthyes . The main skeletal element is the vertebral column, composed of articulating vertebrae which are lightweight yet strong. The ribs attach to the spine and there are no limbs or limb girdles. They are supported only by the muscles. The main external features of the fish, the fins , are composed of either bony or soft spines called rays which, with the exception of the caudal fin (tail fin), have no direct connection with
6350-498: The Pacific Ocean , has a shell that is massive in both size and weight. Syrinx aruanus is a species of sea snail with a very large shell. Endoskeletons are the internal support structure of an animal, composed of mineralized tissues , such as the bone skeletons found in most vertebrates. Endoskeletons are highly specialized and vary significantly between animals. They vary in complexity from functioning purely for support (as in
6477-611: The Pietraroja Plattenkalk of Italy. It preserves portions of the intestines, colon, liver, muscles, and windpipe. Concurrently, a line of work led by Mary Higby Schweitzer , Jack Horner , and colleagues reported various occurrences of preserved soft tissues and proteins within dinosaur bone fossils. Various mineralized structures that likely represented red blood cells and collagen fibres had been found by Schweitzer and others in tyrannosaurid bones as early as 1991. However, in 2005, Schweitzer and colleagues reported that
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#17328917694236604-489: The Tethyan coast of Gondwanan India. A marine paleoenvironment is supported by the presence of Hybodont sharks. The Kuldhar Member Limestone contained carbonate microfacies that also indicate a depositional environment composed mainly of lagoons , shoals and open marine environments . [REDACTED] Dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria . They first appeared during
6731-650: The Triassic period , between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is a subject of active research. They became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event 201.3 mya and their dominance continued throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The fossil record shows that birds are feathered dinosaurs , having evolved from earlier theropods during
6858-676: The United States and displayed in Pittsburgh 's Carnegie Museum of Natural History in 1907. The longest dinosaur known from good fossil material is Patagotitan : the skeleton mount in the American Museum of Natural History in New York is 37 meters (121 ft) long. The Museo Municipal Carmen Funes in Plaza Huincul , Argentina, has an Argentinosaurus reconstructed skeleton mount that
6985-405: The epidermis . The cuticle covers the animal's body and lines several internal organs, including parts of the digestive system. Arthropods molt as they grow through a process of ecdysis , developing a new exoskeleton, digesting part of the previous skeleton, and leaving the remainder behind. An arthropod's skeleton serves many functions, working as an integument to provide a barrier and support
7112-499: The exoskeleton , which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton , a rigid internal frame to which the organs and soft tissues attach; and the hydroskeleton , a flexible internal structure supported by the hydrostatic pressure of body fluids . Vertebrates are animals with an endoskeleton centered around an axial vertebral column , and their skeletons are typically composed of bones and cartilages . Invertebrates are other animals that lack
7239-427: The largest and smallest dinosaurs to have ever existed. This is because only a tiny percentage of animals were ever fossilized and most of these remain buried in the earth. Few non-avian dinosaur specimens that are recovered are complete skeletons, and impressions of skin and other soft tissues are rare. Rebuilding a complete skeleton by comparing the size and morphology of bones to those of similar, better-known species
7366-474: The ossicles that articulate only with each other. The hyoid bone , which is located in the neck and serves as the point of attachment for the tongue , does not articulate with any other bones in the body, being supported by muscles and ligaments. There are 206 bones in the adult human skeleton, although this number depends on whether the pelvic bones (the hip bones on each side) are counted as one or three bones on each side (ilium, ischium, and pubis), whether
7493-530: The "lizard-hipped" dinosaurs—birds evolved from earlier dinosaurs with "lizard hips". The following is a simplified classification of dinosaur groups based on their evolutionary relationships, and those of the main dinosaur groups Theropoda, Sauropodomorpha and Ornithischia, compiled by Justin Tweet. Further details and other hypotheses of classification may be found on individual articles. Timeline of major dinosaur groups per Holtz (2007) . Knowledge about dinosaurs
7620-677: The 1970s , however, has indicated that dinosaurs were active animals with elevated metabolisms and numerous adaptations for social interaction. Some were herbivorous , others carnivorous . Evidence suggests that all dinosaurs were egg-laying , and that nest -building was a trait shared by many dinosaurs, both avian and non-avian. While dinosaurs were ancestrally bipedal , many extinct groups included quadrupedal species, and some were able to shift between these stances. Elaborate display structures such as horns or crests are common to all dinosaur groups, and some extinct groups developed skeletal modifications such as bony armor and spines . While
7747-409: The 19th century. Samuel Beckles discovered a sauropod forelimb with preserved skin in 1852 that was incorrectly attributed to a crocodile; it was correctly attributed by Marsh in 1888 and subject to further study by Reginald Hooley in 1917. Among ornithischians, in 1884 Jacob Wortman found skin impressions on the first known specimen of Edmontosaurus annectens , which were largely destroyed during
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#17328917694237874-453: The 65 that is typical in lizards. The skeletons of birds are adapted for flight . The bones in bird skeletons are hollow and lightweight to reduce the metabolic cost of flight. Several attributes of the shape and structure of the bones are optimized to endure the physical stress associated with flight, including a round and thin humeral shaft and the fusion of skeletal elements into single ossifications . Because of this, birds usually have
8001-501: The English paleontologist Sir Richard Owen coined the term "dinosaur", using it to refer to the "distinct tribe or sub-order of Saurian Reptiles" that were then being recognized in England and around the world. The term is derived from Ancient Greek δεινός (deinos) 'terrible, potent or fearfully great' and σαῦρος (sauros) 'lizard or reptile'. Though
8128-577: The Greek ornitheios (ὀρνίθειος) meaning "of a bird" and ischion (ἰσχίον) meaning "hip joint"—had a pelvis that superficially resembled a bird's pelvis: the pubic bone was oriented caudally (rear-pointing). Unlike birds, the ornithischian pubis also usually had an additional forward-pointing process. Ornithischia includes a variety of species that were primarily herbivores. Despite the terms "bird hip" (Ornithischia) and "lizard hip" (Saurischia), birds are not part of Ornithischia. Birds instead belong to Saurischia,
8255-501: The Late Cretaceous, was the evolution of flowering plants . At the same time, several groups of dinosaurian herbivores evolved more sophisticated ways to orally process food. Ceratopsians developed a method of slicing with teeth stacked on each other in batteries, and iguanodontians refined a method of grinding with dental batteries , taken to its extreme in hadrosaurids. Some sauropods also evolved tooth batteries, best exemplified by
8382-781: The MRCA of Megalosaurus and Iguanodon , because these were two of the three genera cited by Richard Owen when he recognized the Dinosauria. Both definitions cover the same known genera: Dinosauria = Ornithischia + Saurischia . This includes major groups such as ankylosaurians (armored herbivorous quadrupeds), stegosaurians (plated herbivorous quadrupeds), ceratopsians (bipedal or quadrupedal herbivores with neck frills ), pachycephalosaurians (bipedal herbivores with thick skulls), ornithopods (bipedal or quadrupedal herbivores including " duck-bills "), theropods (mostly bipedal carnivores and birds), and sauropodomorphs (mostly large herbivorous quadrupeds with long necks and tails). Birds are
8509-401: The Middle to Late Triassic epochs, roughly 20 million years after the devastating Permian–Triassic extinction event wiped out an estimated 96% of all marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species approximately 252 million years ago. The oldest dinosaur fossils known from substantial remains date to the Carnian epoch of the Triassic period and have been found primarily in
8636-519: The Triassic, Early Jurassic, Late Jurassic and Cretaceous. Predatory theropod dinosaurs, which occupied most terrestrial carnivore niches during the Mesozoic, most often fall into the 100-to-1,000 kg (220-to-2,200 lb) category when sorted by estimated weight into categories based on order of magnitude , whereas recent predatory carnivoran mammals peak in the 10-to-100 kg (22-to-220 lb) category. The mode of Mesozoic dinosaur body masses
8763-583: The United States, known as dinosaur mania. Dinosaur mania was exemplified by the fierce rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh , both of whom raced to be the first to find new dinosaurs in what came to be known as the Bone Wars . This fight between the two scientists lasted for over 30 years, ending in 1897 when Cope died after spending his entire fortune on the dinosaur hunt. Many valuable dinosaur specimens were damaged or destroyed due to
8890-542: The animal ages. Sea urchins have as many as ten variants of stereome structure. Among extant animals, such skeletons are unique to echinoderms, though similar skeletons were used by some Paleozoic animals. The skeletons of echinoderms are mesodermal , as they are mostly encased by soft tissue. Plates of the skeleton may be interlocked or connected through muscles and ligaments. Skeletal elements in echinoderms are highly specialized and take many forms, though they usually retain some form of symmetry. The spines of sea urchins are
9017-415: The animal's body. The skeletons of sea cucumbers are an exception, having a reduced size to assist in feeding and movement. Echinoderm skeletons are composed of stereom , made up of calcite with a monocrystal structure. They also have a significant magnesium content, forming up to 15% of the skeleton's composition. The stereome structure is porous, and the pores fill with connective stromal tissue as
9144-666: The best-known genera are remarkable for their large size, many Mesozoic dinosaurs were human-sized or smaller, and modern birds are generally small in size. Dinosaurs today inhabit every continent, and fossils show that they had achieved global distribution by the Early Jurassic epoch at latest. Modern birds inhabit most available habitats, from terrestrial to marine, and there is evidence that some non-avian dinosaurs (such as Microraptor ) could fly or at least glide, and others, such as spinosaurids , had semiaquatic habits. While recent discoveries have made it more difficult to present
9271-455: The body . Other prehistoric animals, including pterosaurs , mosasaurs , ichthyosaurs , plesiosaurs , and Dimetrodon , while often popularly conceived of as dinosaurs, are not taxonomically classified as dinosaurs. Pterosaurs are distantly related to dinosaurs, being members of the clade Ornithodira . The other groups mentioned are, like dinosaurs and pterosaurs, members of Sauropsida (the reptile and bird clade), except Dimetrodon (which
9398-464: The body, assistance in movement by opposing muscle contraction , and the forming of a protective wall around internal organs. Bones are primarily made of inorganic minerals, such as hydroxyapatite , while the remainder is made of an organic matrix and water. The hollow tubular structure of bones provide considerable resistance against compression while staying lightweight. Most cells in bones are osteoblasts , osteoclasts , or osteocytes . Bone tissue
9525-400: The body, providing appendages for movement and defense, and assisting in sensory perception. Some arthropods, such as crustaceans, absorb biominerals like calcium carbonate from the environment to strengthen the cuticle. The skeletons of echinoderms , such as starfish and sea urchins , are endoskeletons that consist of large, well-developed sclerite plates that adjoin or overlap to cover
9652-429: The bone as the lower extremity of the femur of a large animal, and recognized that it was too large to belong to any known species. He therefore concluded it to be the femur of a huge human, perhaps a Titan or another type of giant featured in legends. Edward Lhuyd , a friend of Sir Isaac Newton , published Lithophylacii Britannici ichnographia (1699), the first scientific treatment of what would now be recognized as
9779-434: The brain, lungs , heart and spinal cord . The biggest bone in the body is the femur in the upper leg, and the smallest is the stapes bone in the middle ear . In an adult, the skeleton comprises around 13.1% of the total body weight, and half of this weight is water. Fused bones include those of the pelvis and the cranium . Not all bones are interconnected directly: There are three bones in each middle ear called
9906-448: The case of sponges ), to serving as an attachment site for muscles and a mechanism for transmitting muscular forces. A true endoskeleton is derived from mesodermal tissue. Endoskeletons occur in chordates , echinoderms, all great apes (including humans), and sponges. Pliant skeletons are capable of movement; thus, when stress is applied to the skeletal structure, it deforms and then regains its original shape. This skeletal structure
10033-418: The coccyx or tail bone is counted as one or four separate bones, and does not count the variable wormian bones between skull sutures. Similarly, the sacrum is usually counted as a single bone, rather than five fused vertebrae. There is also a variable number of small sesamoid bones, commonly found in tendons. The patella or kneecap on each side is an example of a larger sesamoid bone. The patellae are counted in
10160-467: The common theropods, and ankylosaurids and early ceratopsians like Psittacosaurus became important herbivores. Meanwhile, Australia was home to a fauna of basal ankylosaurians, hypsilophodonts , and iguanodontians. The stegosaurians appear to have gone extinct at some point in the late Early Cretaceous or early Late Cretaceous . A major change in the Early Cretaceous, which would be amplified in
10287-713: The dinosaur subgroup Maniraptora , which are coelurosaurs , which are theropods, which are saurischians. Research by Matthew G. Baron, David B. Norman , and Paul M. Barrett in 2017 suggested a radical revision of dinosaurian systematics. Phylogenetic analysis by Baron et al. recovered the Ornithischia as being closer to the Theropoda than the Sauropodomorpha, as opposed to the traditional union of theropods with sauropodomorphs. This would cause sauropods and kin to fall outside traditional dinosaurs, so they re-defined Dinosauria as
10414-427: The dinosaurs' modern-day surviving avian lineage (birds) are generally small due to the constraints of flight, many prehistoric dinosaurs (non-avian and avian) were large-bodied—the largest sauropod dinosaurs are estimated to have reached lengths of 39.7 meters (130 feet) and heights of 18 m (59 ft) and were the largest land animals of all time. The misconception that non-avian dinosaurs were uniformly gigantic
10541-686: The dinosaurs. Most of these other animals became extinct in the Triassic, in one of two events. First, at about 215 million years ago, a variety of basal archosauromorphs, including the protorosaurs , became extinct. This was followed by the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event (about 201 million years ago), that saw the end of most of the other groups of early archosaurs, like aetosaurs, ornithosuchids, phytosaurs , and rauisuchians. Rhynchosaurs and dicynodonts survived (at least in some areas) at least as late as early –mid Norian and late Norian or earliest Rhaetian stages , respectively, and
10668-574: The early saurischian Alwalkeria , are known from the Upper Maleri and Lower Maleri Formations of India. The Carnian-aged Chañares Formation of Argentina preserves primitive, dinosaur-like ornithodirans such as Lagosuchus and Lagerpeton in Argentina , making it another important site for understanding dinosaur evolution. These ornithodirans support the model of early dinosaurs as small, bipedal predators. Dinosaurs may have appeared as early as
10795-423: The ectoderm and mesoderm. Most of these cells develop into separate bone, cartilage, and joint cells, and they are then articulated with one another. Specialized skeletal tissues are unique to vertebrates. Cartilage grows more quickly than bone, causing it to be more prominent earlier in an animal's life before it is overtaken by bone. Cartilage is also used in vertebrates to resist stress at points of articulation in
10922-456: The end of the Cretaceous, caused the extinction of all dinosaur groups except for the neornithine birds. Some other diapsid groups, including crocodilians , dyrosaurs , sebecosuchians , turtles, lizards , snakes , sphenodontians , and choristoderans , also survived the event. The surviving lineages of neornithine birds, including the ancestors of modern ratites , ducks and chickens , and
11049-451: The exact date of their extinction is uncertain. These losses left behind a land fauna of crocodylomorphs , dinosaurs, mammals, pterosaurians, and turtles . The first few lines of early dinosaurs diversified through the Carnian and Norian stages of the Triassic, possibly by occupying the niches of the groups that became extinct. Also notably, there was a heightened rate of extinction during
11176-407: The exoskeleton also assists with sensory perception . An external skeleton can be quite heavy in relation to the overall mass of an animal, so on land, organisms that have an exoskeleton are mostly relatively small. Somewhat larger aquatic animals can support an exoskeleton because weight is less of a consideration underwater. The southern giant clam , a species of extremely large saltwater clam in
11303-433: The field of dinosaur research experienced a surge in activity that remains ongoing. Several seminal studies led to this activity. First, John Ostrom discovered the bird-like dromaeosaurid theropod Deinonychus and described it in 1969. Its anatomy indicated that it was an active predator that was likely warm-blooded, in marked contrast to the then-prevailing image of dinosaurs. Concurrently, Robert T. Bakker published
11430-440: The forces of muscle contraction, allowing an animal to move by alternating contractions and expansions of muscles along the animal's length. The cytoskeleton ( cyto- meaning 'cell' ) is used to stabilize and preserve the form of the cells. It is a dynamic structure that maintains cell shape, protects the cell, enables cellular motion using structures such as flagella , cilia and lamellipodia , and transport within cells such as
11557-486: The hip structure of their ancestors, with a pubis bone directed cranially , or forward. This basic form was modified by rotating the pubis backward to varying degrees in several groups ( Herrerasaurus , therizinosauroids, dromaeosaurids, and birds ). Saurischia includes the theropods (exclusively bipedal and with a wide variety of diets) and sauropodomorphs (long-necked herbivores which include advanced, quadrupedal groups). By contrast, ornithischians—"bird-hipped", from
11684-439: The largest type of echinoderm skeletal structure. Some molluscs, such as conchs, scallops, and snails, have shells that serve as exoskeletons. They are produced by proteins and minerals secreted from the animal's mantle . The skeleton of sponges consists of microscopic calcareous or siliceous spicules . The demosponges include 90% of all species of sponges. Their "skeletons" are made of spicules consisting of fibers of
11811-432: The last common ancestor of Triceratops horridus , Passer domesticus and Diplodocus carnegii , and all of its descendants, to ensure that sauropods and kin remain included as dinosaurs. They also resurrected the clade Ornithoscelida to refer to the group containing Ornithischia and Theropoda. Using one of the above definitions, dinosaurs can be generally described as archosaurs with hind limbs held erect beneath
11938-558: The late 17th century in England. Part of a bone, now known to have been the femur of a Megalosaurus , was recovered from a limestone quarry at Cornwell near Chipping Norton , Oxfordshire, in 1676. The fragment was sent to Robert Plot , Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford and first curator of the Ashmolean Museum , who published a description in his The Natural History of Oxford-shire (1677). He correctly identified
12065-478: The longest were the 33.5-meter (110 ft) long Diplodocus hallorum (formerly Seismosaurus ), the 33-to-34-meter (108 to 112 ft) long Supersaurus , and 37-meter (121 ft) long Patagotitan ; and the tallest, the 18-meter (59 ft) tall Sauroposeidon , which could have reached a sixth-floor window. There were a few dinosaurs that was considered either the heaviest and longest. The most famous one include Amphicoelias fragillimus , known only from
12192-435: The male and female skeletons. The male skeleton, for example, is generally larger and heavier than the female skeleton. In the female skeleton, the bones of the skull are generally less angular. The female skeleton also has wider and shorter breastbone and slimmer wrists. There exist significant differences between the male and female pelvis which are related to the female's pregnancy and childbirth capabilities. The female pelvis
12319-479: The most complete theropod specimens, while North American localities have produced the most complete sauropodomorph specimens. Prior to the dinosaur renaissance, dinosaurs were mostly classified using the traditional rank-based system of Linnaean taxonomy . The renaissance was also accompanied by the increasingly widespread application of cladistics , a more objective method of classification based on ancestry and shared traits, which has proved tremendously useful in
12446-495: The most diverse groups of vertebrates. Using fossil evidence, paleontologists have identified over 900 distinct genera and more than 1,000 different species of non-avian dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are represented on every continent by both extant species (birds) and fossil remains. Through the first half of the 20th century, before birds were recognized as dinosaurs, most of the scientific community believed dinosaurs to have been sluggish and cold-blooded . Most research conducted since
12573-509: The most important advantage was dietary. Large animals are more efficient at digestion than small animals, because food spends more time in their digestive systems. This also permits them to subsist on food with lower nutritive value than smaller animals. Sauropod remains are mostly found in rock formations interpreted as dry or seasonally dry, and the ability to eat large quantities of low-nutrient browse would have been advantageous in such environments. Scientists will probably never be certain of
12700-478: The most recent common ancestor of a certain taxonomic group, are called the synapomorphies of such a group. A detailed assessment of archosaur interrelations by Sterling Nesbitt confirmed or found the following twelve unambiguous synapomorphies, some previously known: Nesbitt found a number of further potential synapomorphies and discounted a number of synapomorphies previously suggested. Some of these are also present in silesaurids , which Nesbitt recovered as
12827-458: The mouth, including potential cheek -like organs to keep food in the mouth, and jaw motions to grind food. Another notable evolutionary event of the Jurassic was the appearance of true birds, descended from maniraptoran coelurosaurians. By the Early Cretaceous and the ongoing breakup of Pangaea, dinosaurs were becoming strongly differentiated by landmass. The earliest part of this time saw
12954-434: The movement of vesicles and organelles , and plays a role in cellular division. The cytoskeleton is not a skeleton in the sense that it provides the structural system for the body of an animal; rather, it serves a similar function at the cellular level. Vertebrate skeletons are endoskeletons, and the main skeletal component is bone. Bones compose a unique skeletal system for each type of animal. Another important component
13081-764: The now-splitting supercontinent Gondwana , abelisaurids were the common theropods, and titanosaurian sauropods the common herbivores. Finally, in Europe, dromaeosaurids, rhabdodontid iguanodontians, nodosaurid ankylosaurians, and titanosaurian sauropods were prevalent. Flowering plants were greatly radiating, with the first grasses appearing by the end of the Cretaceous. Grinding hadrosaurids and shearing ceratopsians became very diverse across North America and Asia. Theropods were also radiating as herbivores or omnivores , with therizinosaurians and ornithomimosaurians becoming common. The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, which occurred approximately 66 million years ago at
13208-756: The number of named genera began to increase exponentially in the 1990s. As of 2008, over 30 new species of dinosaurs were named each year. At least sauropodomorphs experienced a further increase in the number of named species in the 2010s, with an average of 9.3 new species having been named each year between 2009 and 2020. As a consequence, more sauropodomorphs were named between 1990 and 2020 than in all previous years combined. These new localities also led to improvements in overall specimen quality, with new species being increasingly named not on scrappy fossils but on more complete skeletons, sometimes from multiple individuals. Better specimens also led to new species being invalidated less frequently. Asian localities have produced
13335-438: The pair's rough methods: for example, their diggers often used dynamite to unearth bones. Modern paleontologists would find such methods crude and unacceptable, since blasting easily destroys fossil and stratigraphic evidence. Despite their unrefined methods, the contributions of Cope and Marsh to paleontology were vast: Marsh unearthed 86 new species of dinosaur and Cope discovered 56, a total of 142 new species. Cope's collection
13462-408: The presence of proteins such as collagen, elastin , and laminin . Both specimens yielded collagen protein sequences that were viable for molecular phylogenetic analyses , which grouped them with birds as would be expected. The extraction of fragmentary DNA has also been reported for both of these fossils, along with a specimen of Hypacrosaurus . In 2015, Sergio Bertazzo and colleagues reported
13589-458: The preservation of collagen fibres and red blood cells in eight Cretaceous dinosaur specimens that did not show any signs of exceptional preservation, indicating that soft tissue may be preserved more commonly than previously thought. Suggestions that these structures represent bacterial biofilms have been rejected, but cross-contamination remains a possibility that is difficult to detect. Dinosaurs diverged from their archosaur ancestors during
13716-658: The protein spongin , the mineral silica , or both. Where spicules of silica are present, they have a different shape from those in the otherwise similar glass sponges . Cartilage is a connective skeletal tissue composed of specialized cells called chondrocytes that in an extracellular matrix . This matrix is typically composed of Type II collagen fibers, proteoglycans , and water. There are many types of cartilage, including elastic cartilage , hyaline cartilage , fibrocartilage , and lipohyaline cartilage. Unlike other connective tissues, cartilage does not contain blood vessels. The chondrocytes are supplied by diffusion, helped by
13843-422: The rebbachisaurid Nigersaurus . There were three general dinosaur faunas in the Late Cretaceous. In the northern continents of North America and Asia, the major theropods were tyrannosaurids and various types of smaller maniraptoran theropods, with a predominantly ornithischian herbivore assemblage of hadrosaurids, ceratopsians, ankylosaurids, and pachycephalosaurians. In the southern continents that had made up
13970-1404: The rocks that produced the Jehol (Early Cretaceous) and Yanliao (Mid-to-Late Jurassic) biotas of northeastern China, from which hundreds of dinosaur specimens bearing impressions of feather-like structures (both closely related to birds and otherwise, see § Origin of birds ) have been described by Xing Xu and colleagues. In living reptiles and mammals, pigment-storing cellular structures known as melanosomes are partially responsible for producing colouration. Both chemical traces of melanin and characteristically shaped melanosomes have been reported from feathers and scales of Jehol and Yanliao dinosaurs, including both theropods and ornithischians. This has enabled multiple full-body reconstructions of dinosaur colouration , such as for Sinosauropteryx and Psittacosaurus by Jakob Vinther and colleagues, and similar techniques have also been extended to dinosaur fossils from other localities. (However, some researchers have also suggested that fossilized melanosomes represent bacterial remains. ) Stomach contents in some Jehol and Yanliao dinosaurs closely related to birds have also provided indirect indications of diet and digestive system anatomy (e.g., crops ). More concrete evidence of internal anatomy has been reported in Scipionyx from
14097-450: The sauropodomorphs Bagualosaurus , Buriolestes , Guaibasaurus , Macrocollum , Nhandumirim , Pampadromaeus , Saturnalia , and Unaysaurus . The Pebbly Arkose Formation, which is of uncertain age but was likely comparable to the other two, has produced the sauropodomorph Mbiresaurus , along with an unnamed herrerasaurid. Less well-preserved remains of the sauropodomorphs Jaklapallisaurus and Nambalia , along with
14224-416: The sauropodomorphs Chromogisaurus , Eodromaeus , and Panphagia . Eoraptor 's likely resemblance to the common ancestor of all dinosaurs suggests that the first dinosaurs would have been small, bipedal predators . The Santa Maria Formation (radiometrically dated to be older, at 233.23 million years old ) has produced the herrerasaurids Gnathovorax and Staurikosaurus , along with
14351-571: The skeleton now mounted and on display at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin ; this mount is 12 meters (39 ft) tall and 21.8 to 22.5 meters (72 to 74 ft) long, and would have belonged to an animal that weighed between 30 000 and 60 000 kilograms ( 70 000 and 130 000 lb). The longest complete dinosaur is the 27 meters (89 ft) long Diplodocus , which was discovered in Wyoming in
14478-459: The skeleton. Cartilage in vertebrates is usually encased in perichondrium tissue. Ligaments are elastic tissues that connect bones to other bones, and tendons are elastic tissues that connect muscles to bones. The skeletons of turtles have evolved to develop a shell from the ribcage, forming an exoskeleton. The skeletons of snakes and caecilians have significantly more vertebrae than other animals. Snakes often have over 300, compared to
14605-406: The skull behind the eyes), and as members of the diapsid group Archosauria, had additional openings in the snout and lower jaw. Additionally, several characteristics once thought to be synapomorphies are now known to have appeared before dinosaurs, or were absent in the earliest dinosaurs and independently evolved by different dinosaur groups. These include an elongated scapula , or shoulder blade;
14732-434: The sole surviving dinosaurs. In traditional taxonomy , birds were considered a separate class that had evolved from dinosaurs, a distinct superorder . However, most contemporary paleontologists reject the traditional style of classification based on anatomical similarity, in favor of phylogenetic taxonomy based on deduced ancestry, in which each group is defined as all descendants of a given founding genus. Birds belong to
14859-515: The specimen's excavation. Owen and Hooley subsequently described skin impressions of Hypsilophodon and Iguanodon in 1885 and 1917. Since then, scale impressions have been most frequently found among hadrosaurids, where the impressions are known from nearly the entire body across multiple specimens. Starting from the 1990s, major discoveries of exceptionally preserved fossils in deposits known as conservation Lagerstätten contributed to research on dinosaur soft tissues. Chiefly among these were
14986-431: The spine. They are supported by the muscles which compose the main part of the trunk. Cartilaginous fish, such as sharks, rays, skates, and chimeras, have skeletons made entirely of cartilage. The lighter weight of cartilage allows these fish to expend less energy when swimming. To facilitate the movement of marine mammals in water, the hind legs were either lost altogether, as in the whales and manatees , or united in
15113-527: The spread of ankylosaurians, iguanodontians , and brachiosaurids through Europe, North America, and northern Africa . These were later supplemented or replaced in Africa by large spinosaurid and carcharodontosaurid theropods, and rebbachisaurid and titanosaurian sauropods, also found in South America . In Asia , maniraptoran coelurosaurians like dromaeosaurids, troodontids , and oviraptorosaurians became
15240-468: The study of dinosaur systematics and evolution. Cladistic analysis, among other techniques, helps to compensate for an often incomplete and fragmentary fossil record. Reference books summarizing the state of dinosaur research, such as David B. Weishampel and colleagues' The Dinosauria , made knowledge more accessible and spurred further interest in dinosaur research. The release of the first and second editions of The Dinosauria in 1990 and 2004, and of
15367-402: The tallest of the theropods. The largest ornithischian dinosaur was probably the hadrosaurid Shantungosaurus giganteus which measured 16.6 meters (54 ft). The largest individuals may have weighed as much as 16 metric tons (18 short tons). Skeletal A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals . There are several types of skeletons, including
15494-459: The taxonomic name has often been interpreted as a reference to dinosaurs' teeth, claws, and other fearsome characteristics, Owen intended it also to evoke their size and majesty. Owen recognized that the remains that had been found so far, Iguanodon , Megalosaurus and Hylaeosaurus , shared distinctive features, and so decided to present them as a distinct taxonomic group. As clarified by British geologist and historian Hugh Torrens, Owen had given
15621-849: The total number of dinosaur genera preserved in the fossil record at 1850, nearly 75% still undiscovered, and the number that ever existed (in or out of the fossil record) at 3,400. A 2016 estimate put the number of dinosaur species living in the Mesozoic at 1,543–2,468, compared to the number of modern-day birds (avian dinosaurs) at 10,806 species. Extinct dinosaurs, as well as modern birds, include genera that are herbivorous and others carnivorous, including seed-eaters, fish-eaters, insectivores, and omnivores. While dinosaurs were ancestrally bipedal (as are all modern birds), some evolved into quadrupeds, and others, such as Anchisaurus and Iguanodon , could walk as easily on two or four legs. Cranial modifications like horns and crests are common dinosaurian traits, and some extinct species had bony armor. Although
15748-460: The total, as they are constant. The number of bones varies between individuals and with age – newborn babies have over 270 bones some of which fuse together. These bones are organized into a longitudinal axis, the axial skeleton , to which the appendicular skeleton is attached. The human skeleton takes 20 years before it is fully developed, and the bones contain marrow , which produces blood cells. There exist several general differences between
15875-452: Was an extremely important find: Hadrosaurus was one of the first nearly complete dinosaur skeletons found ( the first was in 1834, in Maidstone, England ), and it was clearly a bipedal creature. This was a revolutionary discovery as, until that point, most scientists had believed dinosaurs walked on four feet, like other lizards. Foulke's discoveries sparked a wave of interests in dinosaurs in
16002-485: Was an order of magnitude more massive than anything else that has since walked the Earth. Giant prehistoric mammals such as Paraceratherium (the largest land mammal ever) were dwarfed by the giant sauropods, and only modern whales approach or surpass them in size. There are several proposed advantages for the large size of sauropods, including protection from predation, reduction of energy use, and longevity, but it may be that
16129-450: Was purportedly discovered in 1822 by Mary Ann Mantell , the wife of English geologist Gideon Mantell , though this is disputed and some historians say Gideon had acquired remains years earlier. Gideon Mantell recognized similarities between his fossils and the bones of modern iguanas and published his findings in 1825. The study of these "great fossil lizards" soon became of great interest to European and American scientists, and in 1842
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