Questions About Dinosaurs

The way I see it there's so many questions with dinosaurs there should be a FAQ at dinosaurfact.net. So, I've created a question sheet here, and these are answered by my own knowledge. Please keep is mind I am no expert. Just an enormous fan.

When Were dinosaurs found?
from 250 million years ago up until 65 million years. There were life forms much earlier but they were not dinosaurs. They were during a timeline called "Early life". The creatures were reptiles, bugs, fish, shell fish, and so on. Later on after the cretaceous era(65 million) years ago dinosaur fossil dating never went past. It was as if they all just vanished off the face of the planet.

Where did dinosaurs Come from?
Huh.......Actually it a pretty simple concept called evolution. Through millions of years creatures started to evolve and become more and more adjusted to different area's of the world. With this they went through major changes. I realize this is pretty hard to believe but things do evolve over a very long period of time. Its very hard to track but there's even traces in humans where we have evolved a little bit from 100years ago. Supposedly humans are averaging shorter than 100years ago.

What did dinosaurs eat?
Their were herbivores and Carnivores. Herbivores ate plants, leaves, vegetables, nuts, etc. The carnivores hunted and ate other dinosaurs and animals.

Will We Ever See a Live Dinosaur?
I predict never. Even though it would be as cool as ever 99% of the world is sure that they are extinct. There is a rumor that deep in a Africa jungle there is a few lurking around, but that has about as much proof as big foot (none). Obviously a satellite Would've captured this.

Are all fossil animals dinosaurs?
Heck no. There was fish, ancient tigers, mammals, sharks, insects. A bunch of weird looking fossils of lifeforms have been found. I was really fascinated of the prehistoric dragonfly. You should really look it up. It was huge.

Did people and dinosaurs live at the same time?
The bible says yes, but scientists have never found Homo sapiens human relatives only as early as the Ice Age which was 1.75 years ago. Dinosaurs were long gone leaving a gap of about 64 million years.

Where did dinosaurs live?
Everywhere in the world. Some where found in Canada, US, UK, China, France, etc. Not only that but some in the ocean an others in the desert. They were scattered along the planet.
Did all the dinosaurs live together, and at the same time?: No, species here and there became extinct between timeline Era's. They were not all bunched together. The dinosaurs of the triassic era where a lot smaller and probably evolved or died off by the time of the cretaceous era.

How are dinosaurs named?
Usually they are named by a certain unique feature of their fossils and they are all named in Greek. The reason I wouldn't know.

What was the biggest dinosaur? What was the smallest?
The Biggest known dinosaur is the Bruhathkayosaurus. It was 40 feet tall. The smallest was the compsognathus. It was close to the size of a chicken.

How many types of dinosaurs are known?
Over 800 confirmed and over 2000 un-confirmed. The difference between the two is that confirmed means that there were full body fossils found, and un-confirmed means that only partial body parts were found.

Were dinosaurs warm-blooded?
This is a major debate. There isn't any proof to help scientists to know for sure. It's a debate. I for one would say that they were warm blooded because some of them moved very fast and cold blooded life forms have problems with controlling their temperature. A large thing like a dinosaur could never make it being cold blooded.

What is the fastest dinosaur?
ornithomimids are thought to be the fastest because their bodies were built just like the common ostridge.

Did dinosaurs communicate?
Yes, I'm sure of it. Certain dinosaurs like the Liliensternus had crests on their head with hollow air channels. inside them. Because ever dinosaur had a unique sized and shaped crest it was obvious that all of these dinosaurs had a unique sound.

What was the name of the Era that dinosaurs lived in from the beginning to the end of their existence?
Yes, there was a pre-dinosaur Period. It was called "Mesozoic Era ". The Mesozoic is divided into three time periods: the Triassic (245-208 Million Years Ago), the Jurassic (208-146 Million Years Ago), and the Cretaceous (146-65 Million Years Ago). Mesozoic means "middle animals", and is the time during which the world fauna changed drastically from that which had been seen in the Paleozoic. Dinosaurs, which are perhaps the most popular organisms of the Mesozoic, evolved in the Triassic, but were not very diverse until the Jurassic. Except for birds, dinosaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous. Some of the last dinosaurs to have lived are found in the late Cretaceous deposits of Montana in the United States. The Mesozoic was also a time of great change in the terrestrial vegetation. The early Mesozoic was dominated by ferns, cycads, ginkgophytes, bennettitaleans, and other unusual plants. Modern gymnosperms, such as conifers, first appeared in their current recognizable forms in the early Triassic. By the middle of the Cretaceous, the earliest angiosperms had appeared and began to diversify, largely taking over from the other plant groups. Yes there were giant Reptiles of sea and a fair bit of land animals that were large, However, when Dinosaurs first started to appear from the Triassic Period, many in the later Periods like the Cretaceous were much more bigger.

Did dinosaurs have the emotion of love or were they just like normal animals?
I doubt they felt the actual concept of love. The Parasaurolophus was a group dinosaur which had cranial crest which looked like a long curved tube projecting upwards and back from the skull. It also had hollow chambers that did connect near where the voice chamber would've been which means they did use unique sounds as no tube fossil of this dinosaur has ever been the same. I think it's probably a matter of attraction and not love, though. Kind of like the Buffalo or something in groups we see today. They did have preferences but probably not love.

If dinosaurs survived would we still be on top of the food chain? Impossible. The honest truth is the lifeform that is the smartest is always the successful in building up their stronghold to the existence of their species. Dinosaurs are proven to be not as efficient thinkers than humans. Not even close. One of the smartest dinosaurs was the Nigersaurus and actually it's a belief by some that this dinosaur could've created the first chain to their extinction. Regardless of the fact that they are stronger and higher on the food chain it's not possible. Think of it this way...We have Bears in the forests of Canada and US. They are much higher on the food chain. Do we hail to them?

Were dinosaurs social animals?
Yes, Some dinosaur fossils were found in huge herds while others were always alone so the chances are great that they were social.

Carrie Brown Asked: If dinosaurs were reptiles, then why do their skeletons look more like a mammal? Also, since they were suppose to be reptiles, did they have a forked tongue like so many reptiles have today?
The truth is dinosaurs are more commonly believed to be avian than reptilian. There are many reptiles today that do not have the characteristic you are talking about. Such as alligators which do not have forked tongues either. Generally, they don't look more like mammals. The feature you're probably thinking of is the position of the legs, as they hang relatively straight down from the hips, and that is more in line with both birds and mammals than with other reptiles. That similarity with mammals is merely superficial. However I'm not going to say you are wrong because there is no real proof that it is not true.

Jeff Asked: What was the difference between dinosaurs and prehistoric reptiles?
The main difference from fossils is the design of their hips, reptiles have a more splayed out design, with their legs branching out from their sides like reptiles today, think crocodilians and lizards.
Dinosaurs had their legs underneath them, more like birds.
It is also being suggested that dinosaurs were warm blooded, just as birds are today.
The way dinosaurs "look" is largely a matter of speculation, as we cannot know coloration etc. for sure.
There have been some fossilized skin patterns preserved, and it seems somewhat reptile like, but there have also been dinosaur fossils found showing primitive feathers. .

Johnny Asked: What museum has the best display of Dinosaurs and fossils in the US?
The Carnegie museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, PA and the Dinosaur Walk Museum in Pigeon Forge,TN have some of the largest collections of dinosaurs in the world.

Kenny Asked : How could one asteroid wipe out all the dinosaurs?
The asteroid is one theory, but its not sure. the asteroid was 6 miles in diameter
The DEEPEST parts of the ocean are only about 7 miles deep - but on average its only 3 - 5 miles, so a 6 mile asteroid could touch the OCEAN floor and still be sticking up miles in the air . Scientists believe that its not the impact that caused the extinction. It was the after effects. The impact would kicks up billions of tons of dust into the atmosphere, blocking out the sun causing a major climate change. Tornado's, hurricanes, and volcano's would erupt like crazy. Many animals, mostly larger one's will migrate to a better area which would wreck the balance of the region. Because the atmosphere changing they could've died from a disease as well.

Private Asked: Are birds dinosaurs? and Did Birds Evolve from Dinosaurs?
A few species of dinosaurs "could" have evolved into today's modern birds, because some dinosaurs did have much in common, however it is inconclusive because there is no proof birds actually being ancestors of dinosaurs.

Frankey Asked: How did birds evolve or any other living creatures come to be, if all species went extinct 65, million years ago according to archologist. When the earth was impacted by a meteor. where did life begin again and how?
In my own opinion, I don't believe that all life forms became exist. Especially various bacteria since they have very strong tolerances of weather and climate changes. I would also assume that there were many animals which have survived the earth after the disaster, even dinosaurs. However I also consider a dinosaur to be a high maintenance life form therefore its very unlikely that they would survive afterwards with all of the starvation and disease.