27 Surprising Facts About Dinosaurs That Our 7 Year Old Nephew Already Knew

Who doesn't love dinosaurs? Gigantic lizards that once roamed the very Earth that we walk on today, then completely vanished after Earth had an unfortunately timed encounter with a giant meteor? Sign us the hell up. As much as we love dinosaurs-- there's a good chance that your childhood bedroom was adorned with posters of T-Rexes or Stegosauruses, and your VHS collection included The Land Before Time, We're Back, or Jurassic Park-- What we actually know about the massive murder lizards seems to change year after year.

Here's a big list of dinosaur facts that'll tickle your inner seven year old, tugging on the sleeve of your Uncle and bombarding him with every tidbit of information you could shove into your young brain about velociraptors and stegosauruses. You probably know all about the feathers at this point, but did you know that they probably didn't roar? That's just the tip of the dino iceberg!

27 Dinosaurs Could Mess You Up

A DINOSAUR WOULDN'T BE HARMLESS JUST BECAUSE IT DOESN'T WANT TO EAT YOU. A lion eats meat and a hippo eats plants, but you already know which one kills more people, don't you? Even cows can be dangerous if they decide they don't like you. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **14 Lies About Dinosaurs and Paleontology Movies and TV Have Told You**

26 Velociraptor's True Size

VELOCIRAPTORS WEREN'T THE SIZE OF A PERSON. A velociraptor could be almost seven feet -from nose to tail. It only stood 1.6 feet at the hip, so the real danger was that it might reach up and bite your crotch. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **14 Lies About Dinosaurs and Paleontology Movies and TV Have Told You**

25 Spinosaurus vs T. Rex

A SPINOSAURUS COULDN'T TAKE ON A T. REX® Spinosaurus was larger, but T. rex was faster, stronger, and smarter - not to mention its fierce bite. It'd be a tough fight to be sure, but the smart money is on Rexy. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **14 Lies About Dinosaurs and Paleontology Movies and TV Have Told You**

24 The Whole Dino

Dinosaur fossils don't have to be bones - sometimes, you get the whole dino. In at least one case, a dinosaur - a nodosaur - was preserved with its bones, armor, and skin, looking like an animal that died pretty recently. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **13 Now-You-Know Facts About Dinosaurs They Didn’t Teach At School**

23 Dinosaur Days

Dinosaurs lived during a time when the day was only about 23 hours long. That's because the gravity of the Moon affects the Earth's spin, and the day is very, very slowly lengthening - it took millions of years to get 1 hour longer. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **13 Now-You-Know Facts About Dinosaurs They Didn’t Teach At School**

22 Dinosaur Eggs

Dinosaurs - at least some of them- laid eggs that were colored. Which is surprising, because scientists thought colored eggs only appeared once birds showed up - - but that's apparently not the case. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **13 Now-You-Know Facts About Dinosaurs They Didn’t Teach At School**

21 A Complete T. Rex Skeleton

Science actually doesn't have even a single complete T-Rex skeleton. There are around 15 good skeletons, and two are so good as to be considered almost complete, but we don't have any complete ones at all. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **13 Now-You-Know Facts About Dinosaurs They Didn’t Teach At School**

20 Platypus and Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs lived on Earth at the same time as the duck-billed platypus. The (truly amazing) platypus lived in the Jurassic era - so, if Jurassic Park was truly period-accurate, they had some platypuses swimming around. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **13 Now-You-Know Facts About Dinosaurs They Didn’t Teach At School**

19 Paleontologists' Other Interests

PALEONTOLOGISTS DON'T JUST CARE ABOUT DINOSAURS. Any animal or plant remain over 10,000 years old is fair game to paleontologists. And they don't just concern themselves with bones, either - a footprint or even a leaf are fossils too. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **14 Lies About Dinosaurs and Paleontology Movies and TV Have Told You**

18 Hunting is Quiet Time

DINOSAURS WEREN'T SOUNDING OFF ALL THE TIME® We can't tell for sure what dinosaurs did or didn't, but animals don't usually walk around announcing themselves to everyone who might be listening. Particularly when they're hunting. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **14 Lies About Dinosaurs and Paleontology Movies and TV Have Told You**

17 A T. Rex's Actual Speed

A T. REX COULDN'T CHASE YOUR CAR® OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR Recent research has shown that the mighty T. rex would break its toesies at speeds over 12 miles per hour. Just tap lightly on the gas pedal and you should remain safely uneaten. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **14 Lies About Dinosaurs and Paleontology Movies and TV Have Told You**

16 Quiet Dinosaurs

DINOSAURS DIDN'T ROAR. THE RULED NIRS Research suggests that dinosaurs made low, throaty sounds without opening their mouths, like many of their bird and croc relatives. So basically, dinosaurs cooed. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **14 Lies About Dinosaurs and Paleontology Movies and TV Have Told You**

15 Dinosaur Arthritis

It turns out that dinosaurs could get arthritis, too, the same way we do. That's what multiple studies say - and, for example, a T-Rex found in 1990 (nicknamed Sue) might have been suffering from gout. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **13 Now-You-Know Facts About Dinosaurs They Didn’t Teach At School**

14 The Weight of Dinosaurs

Gigantic dinosaurs look super heavy, but they were actually surprisingly light. 3-FINGERED HAND Some of them, anyway, including the largest ones - and it's all because they had really light bones, plus air sacs throughout their body. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **13 Now-You-Know Facts About Dinosaurs They Didn’t Teach At School**

13 Meteor Is a New Theory

The popularity of the death by meteor theory of dinosaur extinction is new. Other ideas include a ton of volcanic eruptions, or a similar worldwide catastrophe - but the meteor thing emerged as the leading theory in the '80s. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **13 Now-You-Know Facts About Dinosaurs They Didn’t Teach At School**

12 Velociraptors Weren't Buddies

Velociraptors probably. weren't actually cunning, cooperative pack hunters. It's a popular image in both pop culture and science, but some scientists now think they attacked the same prey but didn't cooperate much. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **13 Now-You-Know Facts About Dinosaurs They Didn’t Teach At School**

11 The Real Dilophosaurus

DILOPHOSAURUS WAS MUCH BIGGER THAN GREEDY COMPUTER NERDS. At 20 feet long, it was one of the largest mofos in its Jurassic neighborhood. This bad boy didn't need venom or neck frills to make you its dinner (and there's no evidence it had either). CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **14 Lies About Dinosaurs and Paleontology Movies and TV Have Told You**

10 Paleontologists and Fossils

PALEONTOLOGISTS DON'T SPEND THEIR ENTIRE TIME DIGGING UP FOSSILS. Yes, field work is a big part of the job, but they also do other stuff, like teaching and curating museum collections. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **14 Lies About Dinosaurs and Paleontology Movies and TV Have Told You**

9 Pterosaur's Actual Strength

A PTEROSAUR COULDN'T LIFT YOU OFF THE GROUND. NOT A DINOSAUR Pterosaurs weren't just big, leathery birds, and their feet weren't grabbing talons. And even if a pterosaur could grab you, you'd be too heavy to carry. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **14 Lies About Dinosaurs and Paleontology Movies and TV Have Told You**

8 The Real Mosasaurus

MOSASAURUS WASN'T SOME BIBLICAL LEVIATHAN® A NOT DINOS It was big, but not Boeing 747-big as the personal assistant-swallowing kaiju in Jurassic World. The largest ever found was 56 feet long. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **14 Lies About Dinosaurs and Paleontology Movies and TV Have Told You**

7 30 Wild Seconds

Dinosaurs died out because the meteor that killed them came 30 seconds early. If it hit the planet 30 seconds later, it would have fallen into the ocean, and its impact would have caused much, much less destruction. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **13 Now-You-Know Facts About Dinosaurs They Didn’t Teach At School**

6 Dinosaur Eating Habits

Long-necked dinosaurs probably didn't eat foliage from treetops, actually. Turns out, their neck and shoulder anatomy is more suited to moving from side to side and covering a wide area than to extending upward. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **13 Now-You-Know Facts About Dinosaurs They Didn’t Teach At School**

5 Dinosaur Sounds

There's a whole field of science dedicated to how dinosaurs sounded. Paleoacoustics actually deals with sounds associated with any fossils and, disappointingly, it theorizes dinosaurs didn't open their mouths to roar. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **13 Now-You-Know Facts About Dinosaurs They Didn’t Teach At School**

4 What The Hell Are Pterodactyls?

Pterodactyls aren't dinosaurs - and they're not birds or mammals, either. The fact that they can fly, and that their limbs stretch to the side, disqualifies them from being dinosaurs and makes them dino cousins. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **13 Now-You-Know Facts About Dinosaurs They Didn’t Teach At School**

3 No Paleontology Department

THERE IS NO DEPARTMENT OF PALEONTOLOGY. College paleontologists are usually in the biology or geology departments. New York University, for one, lacks the department where Ross Geller allegedly teaches. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **14 Lies About Dinosaurs and Paleontology Movies and TV Have Told You**

2 T. Rex Arms

T. REX'S ARMS WEREN'T EXACTLY PUNY. Those stumpy arms were still bigger than your leg, and positively jacked. We're not sure what T. rex used its guns for, but it could use them to easily kick any wrestler's butt. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **14 Lies About Dinosaurs and Paleontology Movies and TV Have Told You**

1 No Cave People in Paleontology

PALEONTOLOGISTS DON'T STUDY CAVE PEOPLE.°C Ancient humans are the province of paleoanthropology, archaeology, and other anthropological disciplines. Now, maybe if a Homo erectus had a pet saber-tooth... CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **14 Lies About Dinosaurs and Paleontology Movies and TV Have Told You**

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