Dinosaurs

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APATOSAURUS​

A herd of dinosaurs larger than highway trucks migrate across what’s now western North America. The group protects their babies from predators like Allosaurus by hiding the youngsters in the center of the herd. (And speaking of big babies: Apatosaurus eggs were about a foot long!) The 70-foot-long dinosaurs walk in search of tasty forest leaves.


A member of the sauropod group—four-legged plant-eaters with long necks and long tails—Apatosaurus lived alongside other giant herbivores like Diplodocus, Barosaurus, Brachiosaurus, and Camarasaurus during the late Jurassic Period, between about 156 million and 151 million years ago. How did all of these dinosaurs share the same food sources? Experts think perhaps different sizes of dinosaurs ate at different levels of the forest trees.

This Dino is named for the Greek words meaning “deceptive lizard” because at the time, scientists thought that some of its bones looked like those of mosasaurs, aquatic reptiles related to snakes and lizards that aren’t actually dinosaurs. Apatosaurus is a lot like its close relative Brontosaurus (which means “thunder lizard” in Greek). Until 2015, these Dinos were thought to be so similar that scientists wanted to give them the same name. (Apatosaurus was the winner because it was named first.) But today scientists think that Brontosaurus is its own type of dinosaur.

Another mistake? An Apatosaurus skeleton was displayed with the wrong head for many years. The fossilized skull of a Camarasaurus was found in the same site and mistakenly put atop the body of Apatosaurus at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pennsylvania from 1934 to 1979. Whoops!

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Tyrannosaurus Rex’s name was almost very different. In 1892, some of the first known bones of Tyrannosaurus were named Manospondylus gigas by Edward Drinker Cope, who thought that they belonged to a Triceratops-like dinosaur.

The first known skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex was discovered later in 1900 in Wyoming, USA, followed by another in 1902. Barnum Brown discovered both T. rex skeletons, and the species was later named by Henry Fairfield Osborn. Afterwards, scientists realised that Manospondylus gigas and Tyrannosaurus rex belonged to the same species. Normally, scientific naming rules mean that the first name given to a species should take priority.

However, as lots of scientists preferred to use the name Tyrannosaurus rex, Manospondylus stopped being used. With Tyrannosaurus rex meaning ‘tyrant lizard king’ and Manospondylus gigas meaning ‘giant porous vertebra’, it’s perhaps not that surprising that Tyrannosaurus stuck!
Currently, T. rex is the only member of the Tyrannosaurus group. Other members of the group have been named, but they aren't widely accepted by scientists.

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Triceratops was a herbivore. It lived in the Cretaceous period and inhabited North America. Its fossils have been found in places such as North Dakota, Wyoming and Saskatchewan (Canada). Triceratops is certainly one of the most recognizable dinosaurs of all time. Active during the late Cretaceious, its name derives from its three distinct horns on its head, just below an armored crest that protects its neck and shoulders. It plods around on all fours, and was an herbivore. It probably used its formidable arsenal for defense rather than hunting live prey.

Some researchers have suggested that Triceratops’ horns aren’t necessarily weapons at all, but rather they exist to attack a mate and intimidate rivals. It has been suggested that the genus Torosaurus may, in fact, be the elder adult form of the Triceratops. In much the same way that older bucks will grow increasingly elaborate antlers, the Torosaurus has a more elaborate head crest.

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The Tyrannosaurs were a group of large carnivorous dinosaurs that roamed North America and Asia during the last part of the Cretaceous, 85 to 65 million years ago. The most famous tyrannosaur, of course, is Tyrannosaurus rex, known to every schoolchild, and one of the last non-avian dinosaurs to walk the earth before the great extinction.

Just about two dozen good specimens of these animals have been found and these finds are from highly restricted areas in western North America. Henry Fairfield Osborn, of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, first described Tyrannosaurus rex in 1905. This first specimen of Tyrannosaurus is now on display at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The skeleton on display at UCMP is a cast of a skeleton (excavated in 1990) now in the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. Skeletons of a close relative of T. rex, Tarbosaurus, have been found in Mongolia.

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With its spiked tail and distinctive back plates, Stegosaurus is one of the most recognizable dinosaurs ever discovered. Living about 150 million years ago during the Late Jurassic, Stegosaurus roamed western North America, browsing on low-growing plants.

Stegosaurus was a heavily built herbivore, about 30 feet long, with a small head and a brain famously compared in size to a walnut. But what it lacked in intelligence, it made up for in defense. Its tail was armed with four deadly spikes, known as the “thagomizer,” capable of delivering powerful blows to predators like Allosaurus. The dinosaur’s iconic plates—large, flat structures rising from its back—remain one of paleontology’s greatest mysteries. They may have helped regulate body temperature, served as display structures, or made Stegosaurus appear larger and more intimidating. Stegosaurus has become a symbol of dinosaurs in general, often appearing in children’s books, cartoons, and museum exhibits. Its unusual shape makes it instantly memorable, even to people who know little about prehistoric life.


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