SCIENCE NEWS FOR STUDENTS (and TEACHERS):
That’s No Dinosaur!
Not all ancient reptiles were dinosaurs, even if they looked or lived like them
by Sid Perkins
Dinosaurs died out about 66 million years ago, yet they live on in our imagination. They populate books and toy shelves. They also star on the big screen in blockbuster movies like 1993’s Jurassic Park and this summer’s Jurassic World. Such efforts have made us all familiar with creatures like the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex, the three-horned Triceratops and the long-necked Brachiosaurus.
But not all dinosaurs were immense beasts. Some were only the size of chickens. And not every prehistoric reptile was a dinosaur.
Dinosaurs are but one small group of reptiles. Ancient ecosystems also hosted the ancestors of today’s crocodiles, snakes, lizards and turtles. And the landscape teemed with many other types of reptiles that are now long gone. Some lived in the sea. Others took to the air and soared like birds. Some lived on land and, at first glance, resembled dinosaurs. But the detailed features of their fossils, or ancient remains, clearly show they were not dinos…
(read more: Science News)
illustration by Richard Bizley/Science Source
That icthyosaur is bein a lil jerk tho woew
