I bet you’ve always wanted to meet a real-life
dinosaur, haven’t you? (Uh, we talkin’ T-Rex here, because, nah,
I’m good!) Well, if you did have the chance, you’d
be surprised to set eyes on a creature covered in feathers, fur, and giant fleas! But I’m getting ahead of myself. How about we kick this list of dino facts
off with the most famous of them all… #1: The T-Rex wasn’t the largest dinosaur
by far. The humungous Tyrannosaurus Rex that terrified
us all in the classic dino-flick Jurassic Park was not, in fact, even among the 15 largest
dinosaurs! With a max length of 40 ft and a weight of
about 10 tons, it was a pip-squeak compared to the biggest land dinosaur: the Argentinosaurus. This gargantuan 100-foot-long herbivore made
the ground shake with all its 75 tons of body weight. Basically, if you live on the 6th floor of
a building, this dino could peak in on you through the window! (Hey, tiny humans, what’s for lunch?) Still, to be fair to the T-Rex, I must say,
it was the largest carnivore that ever existed. Well, I guess being the king of predators
is better than not being king at all, right? While we’re on the topic of size… #2: Dinosaurs weren’t the biggest animals
ever. As much as we’re used to thinking dinosaurs
were the hugest things on earth, well, they weren’t. In fact, the largest known animal in this
planet’s history is our contemporary! Meet the blue whale. At 98 ft long, it’s about the size of the
mighty Argentinosaurus, but its weight is far greater. You ready for it? A whopping 190 tons! (That’s about as heavy as your typical one-story
house, by the way.) Blue whales are real titans of this world,
and there’s never been anything bigger than them, neither in the sea nor on land. I guess we can consider ourselves lucky to
live alongside such amazing creatures! #3: Dinosaurs aren’t really extinct. Uh, come again? Does that mean Nessie is real? I knew it! No, unfortunately for mystery enthusiasts,
I’m not talking about giant lizards here. But ya know, you actually meet dinosaurs every
single day without even realizing it! I know, sounds like complete hogwash, but
it’s true. According to scientists from the University
of Berkeley, birds aren’t just distant relatives of dinosaurs but are dinosaurs themselves! You see, the classification of animals we’re
all used to, which divides them into families, species, and so on, doesn’t take evolution
into account. That system was actually created long before
scientists realized that organisms evolved at all. So today, most biologists prefer to use another
classification that incorporates animals’ evolution over time. And that includes dinosaurs, which (get ready
for it) evolved into modern-day birds! Hey, give me a “like” if you’ve ever
fed some dinos at your local park! #4: Dinosaurs were dressed in feathers, not
scales. Since we were kids, all the books, cartoons,
and movies showed dinosaurs as reptilian creatures looking more like lizards than anything else. Recent paleontological discoveries, though,
prove otherwise. And not so recent ones too! Way back in 1923, explorer and adventurer
Roy Chapman Andrews led an expedition to the Gobi Desert and found the first fossilized
dinosaur eggs. Interestingly enough, those eggs were apparently
laid by a strange birdlike creature that soon became a sort of star among the scientific
community. As more fossils were discovered over time,
paleontologists later concluded that most dinosaurs, including the T-Rex and its kin,
had feathers attached to their bones. This fact was only overlooked for decades
because nobody wanted to part with the image of giant scaly reptiles! Talk about the force of habit, huh? #5: Jurassic Park just might become a thing
one day. Evolutionary researchers across the world
have been trying to understand the development of dinosaurs for years now. What they did was look at how chicken embryos
grew inside their eggs. Remember I told you about birds being actual
evolved dinosaurs? Yeah, that’s the thing. And in 2016, a team of scientists from the
University of Chile tweaked a couple of genes in some embryos to give them dinosaur legs. …And they actually succeeded! The not-yet-hatched chicks grew with lower
limbs resembling those of ancient lizards. Apart from purely scientific theory, this
experiment showed that birds could indeed one day be turned into real dinos. Of course, a park full of dinosaurs is still
probably decades away, but the potential is there! I just hope scientists watch the movies before
they make any decisions on the matter – the idea didn’t work out too well even in the
fictional world… #6: The biggest herbivores had equally large
diets. As you know, some plant-eating dinos were
really massive. In fact, growing as huge as possible was their
way of protecting themselves from predators. But now let’s imagine, say, a Diplodocus. How much food do you think it’d take to
fill the belly of a 110-foot-long creature weighing in at about 15 tons? Well, the short answer is a whole lot – leaves
and plants by the busload! In the era of dinosaurs, when it was warm
and tropical almost everywhere, it was totally possible for these giants to find so much
food, of course. But anyway, just picture such a creature walking
into your yard and stripping every single tree of its leaves, and still being hungry
after that! #7: There were chicken-sized dinosaurs. When you hear the word “dinosaur” you
probably imagine a creature that’s at least the size of a large dog, but the first thing
that comes to mind is most likely a big Triceratops or something. Well, dinos actually came in all shapes and
sizes, and there were really tiny ones! The smallest known dinosaur to this day is
called Compsognathus, and it was just about the size of a chicken. But scientists are pretty sure there were
even smaller species – it’s just that their bones haven’t been found yet. Large fossils are obviously easier to discover,
so it should come as no surprise that we mostly know about the bigger reptiles. #8: Dinosaurs had fleas the size of roaches. And now I’m feeling itchy all of a sudden. Eck! Dr. George Poinar Jr. from Oregon State University
describes the prehistoric pests as not exactly fleas because they couldn’t jump as high
as the modern-day ones. But still, a creature that was almost a full
inch in length and could bite through thick dino skin does give you the heebie-jeebies. As Professor Poinar puts it, “We can be
thankful our modern fleas are not nearly this big.” I couldn’t agree more! #9: Carnivorous dinosaurs had pretty large
brains. There’s another one of those tidbits everybody
knows about dinos: they had itty-bitty brains! Well, that might be the case for a lot of
them, especially when you compare their brain and body size. For instance, one of the biggest dinosaur
species, the Stegosarus, had a brain the size of a lime. However, this discrepancy only concerned herbivores,
or plant eaters. Carnivorous dinosaurs, or meat eaters, had
a much larger brain. Getting back to the T-Rex, that monster had
a particularly big brain inside its skull. So, all those images showing this predator
with a brain the size of a walnut are simply not accurate. Scientists believe that predators needed bigger
brains because they had to hunt their prey at high speeds. A bigger brain meant a faster reaction time,
and that’s exactly what they needed. #10: Dinosaurs shed their skin. You certainly know that snakes and lizards
shed their skin as they grow. Well, dinosaurs seem to have done the same! A 2018 study published in the journal Nature
Communications showed that fossilized dino dandruff could be proof that the ancient lizards
also shed their skins! But there’s something even more fascinating
about this discovery. Like I said earlier, dinosaurs had feathers,
not scales. So this prehistoric dandruff finding meant
they didn’t just lose their entire skin in one piece. Instead, they shook off fragments of it from
in between their feathers. I don’t know about you, but I can’t get
the image of a dinosaur with dandruff out of my brain now. Too bad they didn’t have shampoo back then! #11: Some dinosaurs had fur. While you’re still probably trying to grasp
the idea of feathered dinos, here’s some more food for thought: in the cooler regions,
Pterosaurs had fur to protect them from the cold. In a 2018 study, paleontologists from the
University of Bristol suggested that some Pterosaurs might’ve had several types of
body covering at the same time. They had feathers on their head and wings,
while their whole body was covered in soft fuzzy fur. Scientists believe both were important for
heat regulation and flight control. Now I wouldn’t dare call these flying creatures
lizards anymore. Would you? Hey, if you know any other surprising facts
about dinosaurs, leave them down in the comments! And if you enjoyed this video, give it a big
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