MYTHS ABOUT DINOSAURS YOU MIGHT NEED TO STOP BELIEVING

DINOSAURS AND HUMANS LIVED AT THE SAME TIME

A common false dinosaur fact coming from the world of science-

fiction, dinosaurs actually never coexisted with humans. The

last dinosaur died out 62 million years before our first

recognizable hominid ancestor appeared on Earth.

JURASSIC PARK WILL BE A REALITY ONCE WE

MASTER CLONING

One of the most commonly accepted dinosaur myths is that we

will be able to clone and propagate dinosaurs once we get

better at cloning. Not true! DNA has a fragile structure and

breaks down soon after a creature’s death – and surely after

62 million years. So, sadly for all the “Jurassic Park” fans, it

seems as though we won’t be having Disney-owned

dino theme parks.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS STUDY DINOSAURS

Archaeologists do study the past and they do plenty of digging,

but they don’t study dinosaurs – they study humans (and some

study animals and their relationships with humans) over the

past three to four million years. Palaeontologists are the scientists

who study dinosaurs through palaeontology: the study of

fossils to learn about life in previous geological periods.

SOME DINOSAURS COULD FLY

Again, nope! When we think of dinosaurs, we often think of the

Pterodactyl or Ichthyosaur, but they’re not even dinos. The

earliest vertebrates scientists have identified as developing

powered flight, Pterosaurs were reptiles but not dinosaurs.

ALL DINOSAURS LIVED AT THE SAME TIME

Though dino-shows would make us think all known-dinosaurs lived

together during the same time period, this is a major dinosaur myth!

The famous Tyrannosaurus and Brontosaurus (now identified as

Apatosaurus) lived 65 million years apart, further apart than

the last dinosaurs and the first humans.

AN ASTEROID STRIKE KILLED OFF THE

THRIVING DINOSAURS

This commonly-held dinosaur myth is heavily debated by

palaeontologists. Though it’s mostly accepted that the asteroid

strike wiped out the last of the dinosaurs, some scientists

believe dinosaurs had already been declining for many millennia.

DINOSAURS WERE ALL SCALY

Despite our images of the T-Rex and Stegosaurus, not all

dinosaurs were scale-covered, hulking beasts. The past two

decades of paleontological research has unearthed numerous

dinosaur species which were covered in feathers. Despite

their feathers, they were flightless, likely using them for

insulation or in mating rituals.

DINOSAURS WERE WEAK, EASILY EXTINCTABLE

CREATURES

Not so! Dinosaurs hold the record for dominating the planet longer

than any other land animal. Ruling over 150 million years,

dinosaurs were masters of adaption and evolution.

DINOSAURS WERE STUPID

Those who believe dinosaurs were evolutionarily weak also tend to

think the creatures were pretty stupid. Palaeontologists aren’t

too on-board with this assumption. Though intelligence is hard to

determine (especially for such ancient creatures), scientists have

found examples of parenting, social behaviour and group living

among dinosaurs. And many species even have brains

quite large for their size.