Did you know?

[Morose]

Did you know....


....the first Ichthyosaur skeleton was found by children?


In 1811, 15-year-old Joseph Anning and his 12-year-old sister, Mary, found the first Ichthyosaur skeleton in the cliffs at Lime Regis in Southwest England. They regularly spent time on the beach near their home, finding fossils of various marine animals including sea lilies and ammonites. They sold the fossils they found to earn money for food, clothing and other things their family needed. The money they earned from selling their first Ichthyosaur allowed Joseph to obtain an apprenticeship as an upholsterer. Mary went on to discover not only the first Plesiosaur skeletons but also the first Pterosaur.

[Morose]

Did you know....


....Oviraptor was named for a crime it never committed?


Oviraptor was a small Theropod from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Discovered in 1922, the first specimen was found lying near what was believed to be a nest of Protoceratops eggs. Therefore, it was given a name meaning "Egg thief". However, because the eggs didn't contain embryos, it was impossible to identify the dinosaur that owned them. In the early 90s, more nests were found that contained similar eggs. This time the eggs contained embryos, showing that they actually belonged to Oviraptor. So it seems Oviraptor may not have been an egg thief after all.

[Morose]

Did you know....


....there was once a dragonfly with a 2-foot wingspan?


Meganeura was a giant dragonfly that lived in Europe around 300 million years ago, during the Carboniferous period. Its wingspan measured between 60 and 90 centimetres, making it the largest flying insect to ever exist.

[Morose]

Did you know....



....the antlers of Megaloceros giganteus weighed more than twenty kilos?



Also known as the Irish elk, Megaloceros giganteus is well-known for its massive antlers. From tip to tip, the antlers had a width of more than three metres and weighed up to forty kilograms.

[Morose]

Did you know....


....that baby Ichthyosaurs were born tail-first, just like modern dolphins?


Ichthyosaurs were marine reptiles. They first appeared around 250 million years ago and existed up until around 90 million years ago, when they were replaced by Mosasaurs. Due to the shape of the body, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for Ichthyosaurs to leave the water. Therefore, they developed the ability to give birth to live young, rather than laying eggs. Check out this remarkable fossil of a female Ichthyosaur that died whilst giving birth.

[Morose]

Did you know....


....teeth aren't the only things that can tell us about dinosaur diets!


Like modern animals, different dinosaurs has different shaped teeth, depending on their choice of food. The photos below shows a selection of different dinosaur teeth. From top to bottom, these teeth belong to: Carcharodontosaurus, Spinosaurus, Ankylosaurus and Triceratops.

Carcharodontosaurus had teeth designed for tearing flesh, whilst Spinosaurus, which fed primarily on fish, had teeth designed for stabbing. The teeth of Ankylosaurus are designed for snipping vegetation whilst the teeth of Triceratops are deigned for grinding. However, there's another way we can learn about dino diets, and that's by studying their fossilized poo, known as Coprolites. Theropod poo usually contains high levels of bone material where as poo from a herbivore will contain partly-digested plants.

[Morose]

Did you know....



....marine reptiles could suffer from the "bends"?



The "bends" is a condition suffered by divers when they surface too quickly and is caused by the formation of nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream. Bone damage caused by this condition has been found in the fossils of marine reptiles.

[Morose]

Did you know....



....the family of plants to which grass belongs first appeared in the Early Cretaceous?



Unlike today, the ground for most of the Mesozoic wasn't covered by grass. Instead, there were ferns, horsetails, cycads and conifer trees. The first grass didn't appear until the middle of the Early Cretaceous.