Dinosaurs belonged to a group of animals with scaly skin, which we call reptiles or reptiles, but it’s hard to imagine that they walked the Earth about 65 million years ago. There are various hypotheses as to why they became extinct, but unfortunately we will never know the truth.

1. The first dinosaurs appeared almost 230 million years ago in what is now Argentina (South America).

2. Paleontologists believe that there were more than 1000 species of dinosaurs on the planet.

3. The word “dinosaur“ means “terrible lizard“.

4. There is a theory that dinosaurs died from an infectious disease.

5. Birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs.

6. Early dinosaurs were most likely carnivorous and hunted small animals, such as lizards, reptiles, insects, and worms.

7. In Russia, dinosaur bones have only been found in the south and the Far East.

8. Ichthyosaurs were reptiles that lived in the sea. They resembled dolphins, had streamlined bodies with fins and a tail.

9. Plateosaurus was one of the first large herbivorous dinosaurs. It reached a length of 8 meters and lived 220 million years ago in what is now Europe.

10. One of the most terrifying predators of ancient times, Tyrannosaurus rex, had teeth measuring 15 centimeters in length.

11. After settling on land, early dinosaurs began to change.

12. The heaviest dinosaur of all was probably the titanosaur, weighing about 80 tons.

13. Early herbivorous dinosaurs were so large that they could reach food in trees.

14. The brain of most dinosaurs was about the size of a walnut.

15. Not all dinosaurs existed at the same time. For example, more time separates Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex than Tyrannosaurus rex and us.

16. Dinosaurs descended from archosaurs. Crocodiles are modern-day descendants of archosaurs.

17. In some species, skull bones could reach a thickness of 25 cm. The shoulder blade of some reptiles can reach 2.5 meters.

18. 160 million years ago, a mamenchisaurus lived in China, where almost half of its body length was its neck.