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Stamp back in time with us to find the answers to the world’s most exciting dino trivia. There are so many questions people have asked about dinosaurs in the past, leading to some interesting facts that may just intrigue you. Here are 55 fascinating facts about these ancient beasts.
The Physique (Ph)acts
1.What was the longest dinosaur?
The Argentinosaurus took up a lot of room – more than 131 feet (40 meters)! Its fossilized remains were discovered in Argentina, South America.
2.What was the heaviest dinosaur?
The Argentinosaurs tipped the scales at 77 tonnes (77,000kg), also winning the prize for the biggest land animal to have ever existed!
3.What was the smallest dinosaur?
The pint-sized vegetarian, Lesothosaurus, was only the size of a chicken.
4.What was the smallest dinosaur egg?
Dinosaur eggs didn’t occur in a standard shape or size, although the spherical shape seemed to be the most common. The tiniest dino egg discovered was barely over an inch (3cm). Most dino eggs were the size of a rugby ball, measuring nearly 12 inches (30cm). When dino eggs fossilized, they kept their shape and became rock hard.
5.What dinosaur was the tallest?
The Brachiosaurus claims this title. Similar to a giraffe in structure, these sauropods had long front legs, shorter rear legs, and extremely long necks. Usually measuring over 42 feet (13 meters) in height, some of these giants reached over 60 feet (18.5 meters)!
6.What dinosaur was the fastest runner?
The Dromiceiomimus could probably teach an ostrich a thing or two about speed, reaching running rates of up to 37 miles (60 km) an hour.
7.Were some dinosaurs the size of turkeys?
Yes. The herbivorous Diluvicursor pickeringi was a turkey-sized dinosaur. A partial skeleton of this bipedal dinosaur dating back 113 million years, was discovered. Researchers believe that the dinosaur resided in a pre-historic rift valley located between Australia and Antarctica.
8.What was the average length of a T-Rex’s forearms?
The arms were about three feet (one meter) long.
9.Did feathered dinosaurs exist?
Yes, some groups of carnivorous theropods evolved feathers up to 145 million years ago.
10.Where is a club found on an Ankylosaurus?
The bony mass used as a defense weapon is found at the end of the tail.
11.What is a thagomizer?
These are the four spikes on the stegosaurus tails. Scientists believe the thagomizer was used as a defense weapon against predators.
12.How wide is a pterodactyl’s wingspan?
The Nemicolopterus crypticus has the smallest wingspan measuring only 10 inches (25 centimeters). The fossilized skeleton of this minute pterodactyl was discovered in Lianoning, China.
13.What were the smallest dinosaurs?
The Microraptor, Parvicursor, Compsognathus, and Caenagnathasia top the list of teeny tiny dinosaurs.
14.How do scientists classify the different dinosaur groups?
The specific arrangement of the hip bones determines the classification of dinosaur groups.
The Intelligence Items
1.Which dinosaur is the brainiest?
The Troodon dinosaur is considered top of the class. With a brain of equal size to the average mammal, this six-and-a-half foot (two-meter) hunting dinosaur had grasping skills and the ability to interpret three-dimensional forms visually.
2.Which dinosaur was the least intelligent?
The Stegosaurus’ walnut-sized brain is barely over an inch (three centimeters) in size and weighs a paltry 2.6 ounces (75 grams). Sauropodomorphs, such as the Plateosaurus, need to have an honorable mention as there’s a huge discrepancy between their brain size versus body size.
3.Which dinosaur is the fiercest?
Tyrannosaurus Rex may be considered a candidate due to its ferocious appearance, but many scientists would name Utahraptor as the fiercest dinosaur. Inhabiting North America, the Utahraptor measured about 23 feet (seven meters) and had sickle-shaped claws designed to rip apart its meal.
The Age Aspects
1.What is the oldest known dinosaur in Britain?
The Thecidontosaurus antiquus was found near Bristol in 1970. Measuring a kangaroo-sized 6.9 feet (2.1 meters) in length, this herbivore roamed the land about 200 million years ago during the Triassic times.
2.What was the average lifespan of the Tyrannosaurus Rex?
The T-Rex had two to three decades to enjoy its ferocious status on Earth.
3.Which dinosaur was the first to be discovered in the US?
In 1854 Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden discovered some dinosaur teeth near the Missouri River. It was later thought to belong to the Trachadon, Deinodon, and Troodon dinosaurs.
4.Which dinosaur was the first to be named?
In 1824, Rev William Buckland named the Megalosaurus. Measuring about 29.5 feet (9 meters) long and 9.8 feet (3 meters) tall, the word ‘Megalosaurus’ translates to ‘great lizard.’
The Digit Data
1.How many types of dinosaurs existed?
There are currently more than 700 different types of dinosaurs, although paleontologists say many dinosaur species haven’t been discovered yet.
2.How long ago did dinosaurs become extinct?
Dinosaurs’ time on earth ended 65 million years ago.
3.When did dinosaurs first arrive on earth?
Dinosaurs arrived during the Triassic Period between 230 and 240 million years ago.
4.How many legs did the earliest dinosaurs use?
The earliest dinosaurs were all bipeds, walking on two legs like the mammals and birds of today.
5.What number of horns did the Triceratops have?
The word ‘Triceratops’ means ‘three-horned face.’ All Triceratops have three horns: two large horns above the eye sockets and a smaller one above the nose.
6.How many claws did a Velociraptor have?
There are three curved claws on each of the two hand-like appendages, designed to restrict their prey’s movement and stop it from escaping.
7.How much meat can a T-Rex eat in a day?
The T-Rex didn’t seem to watch its weight as 500 pounds (230 kilograms) of meat could be consumed daily.
8.How many wings did a Microraptor have?
Living in North-East China 120 million years ago, the Microraptor had four feathered wings, similar to a tandem wing aircraft.
9.How many horns did the Kosmoceratops have?
‘Kosmoceratops’ means ‘horned face’ and had a whopping fifteen horns! This dinosaur lived in North America about 76 million years ago.
10.Which dinosaur had 800 teeth?
The Triceratops had an excessive amount of teeth. 800 teeth grew in vertical tooth columns, with the new teeth growing into the top of the column and pushing out the old teeth.
The Cause and Effect
1.What caused the dinosaurs’ demise?
Scientists believe the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by two disasters: a meteorite colliding with Earth and a huge volcanic eruption.
2.Which dinosaur lineage survived the extinction?
Birds survived the extinction and managed to evolve over the following 66 million years.
3.What was the name of the massive extinction event that caused the dinosaurs’ extinction?
About 66 million years ago, the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event caused three-quarters of Earth’s animal and plant species to become extinct.
4.What were the dinosaur’s direct ancestors?
The Archosaurs existed for about 250 million years in the latter part of the Permian Period and are regarded as direct ancestors to the dinosaur.
Geography Q&A
1.What did the continents look like when dinosaurs roamed the earth?
During the Triassic Period, all the continents formed a large land mass called Pangaea. There were no polar ice caps, the climate was quite hot, and there were desert regions. Flora and fauna had minimal differences.
2.Where have the majority of dinosaur fossils been discovered?
Nearly 11,000 dinosaur fossils have been found worldwide, and the greatest number have been discovered in North America.
3.Have dinosaur fossils been found across the globe?
Dinosaur fossils have been discovered in all seven continents – North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Australasia, and Antarctica.
4.Which carnivorous dinosaur was the first to be found in Antarctica?
The Cryolophosaurus sported a small curved crest on its head and lived during the early Jurassic period 170 million years ago in Antarctica.
5.Where did the meteor land?
Scientists believe the meteor that played a major role in the mass extinction of the dinosaurs landed in modern-day Mexico.
6.When was the first dinosaur fossil found in Antarctica?
An Ankylosaurus was found in 1986 on James Ross Island in Antarctica.
The Name Game
1.Which dinosaur species name means ‘fast thief’?
The Velociraptor means ‘fast thief’ due to its agile build and predatory diet.
2.What’s the meaning of the word ‘dinosaur’?
‘Dinosaur’ is derived from the Greek word ‘deinos,’ meaning ‘terrible,’ and ‘saurus,’ meaning ‘lizard.’
3.What did scientists nickname the most complete skeletal fossil of a T-Rex?
The T-Rex fossil was named Sue because the fossil was discovered by Sue Hendrickson South Dakota in 1990.
4.Which dinosaur means ‘covered lizard’ or ‘roof lizard’?
The Stegosaurus was given this name because it had enormous bony plate-like structures along its spine.
5.Which dinosaur has a name that means ‘hopping foot’?
The Saltopus name is derived from the Latin word ‘Saltare,’ which means ‘to jump,’ and the Greek word ‘pous,’ which means ‘foot.’ The Saltopus fossil was discovered in an area in Scotland where hopping foot lizards are common.
6.What is the dinosaur name for a two-crested lizard?
The Dilophosaurus was one of the first known predatory dinosaurs sporting two arched crests on its skull.
7.Which dinosaur has the longest name?
Micropachycephalosaurus fossils were discovered in China in 1978. The name means ‘tiny thick-headed lizard.’ This bipedal herbivorous dinosaur was only 39 inches (100 centimeters) tall.
Fossil Facts
1.Which dinosaur fossil was initially thought to be a bison?
When a Stegasaurus fossil was discovered, scientists incorrectly identified the horns of the fossil as that of a bison.
2.What was the first Megalosaurus fossil mistakenly identified as?
In 17th century England, Robert Plot discovered a partial Megalosaurus femur bone and thought it was a human giant’s leg bone.
3.How many fossils are needed to officially identify a new species of dinosaur?
Only one partial or complete dinosaur skeleton is needed. Nearly 50% of the known dinosaurs were identified from a single fossil specimen.
4.Where were dinosaur fossils incorrectly identified as dragon bones?
People living in villages in central China had used ‘dragon bones’ for traditional medicine for decades. These bones were, in fact, dinosaur bones.
5.Who discovered the first scientifically recorded dinosaur fossil?
William Buckland discovered Megalosaurus fossils in 1819 in England.
6.Where was the largest fossilized dinosaur footprint discovered?
The largest footprint was found in Northwest Australia, measuring 5 feet 9 inches (1.8 meters). Scientists believe a sauropod was the owner of the footprints.
7.Who discovered fossilized feces?
Mary Anning was a fossil hunter and paleontologist of the 19th century who pioneered the study of coprolites (fossilized feces)! 
