Nothing has fascinated humans more than dinosaurs! The fact that they are extinct and lost to the past makes them even more interesting. Help your students learn facts about the size of dinosaurs, where they lived, what they ate, and how they lived with these fun facts.

Fun Facts About Dinosaurs Infographic
  1. “Paleontologist” is the name for a person who studies dinosaurs.
  2. Researchers have found dinosaur fossils on all seven continents.
  3. Scientists estimate that there are about 700 species of dinosaurs.
  4. Scientists believe that dinosaurs went extinct about 66 million years ago.
  5. The word “dinosaur” means “terrible lizard” in Greek.
  6. Some dinosaurs may have had feathers.
  7. The bite of a T-rex is nearly twice as powerful as the bite of a lion.
  8. Many dinosaurs were herbivores, which means they only ate plants.
  9. Some scientists believe dinosaurs had a lifespan of over 100 years.
  10. The first dinosaur nest was discovered in the Gobi Desert in 1923.
  11. The Ornithomimus could run as fast as 43.5 miles per hour.
  12. The largest dinosaur eggs were about the size of a basketball.
  13. The Stegosaurus had a brain the size of a walnut.
  14. The Hadrosaur had over 1000 teeth.
  15. The Therizinosaurus had claws that were up to 3 feet long.
  16. The blue whale, the largest animal on Earth today, is bigger than any dinosaur.
  17. Some of the smallest dinosaur skeletons ever found are small enough to fit in a grocery bag. They’re called Baby Mussaurus, or “mouse lizards.”
  18. The Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 39 feet.
  19. Most meat-eating dinosaurs walked on two feet in order to move more quickly when catching prey.
  20. Some scientists speculate that dinosaurs shed their skin like modern snakes and lizards do.
  21. Dinosaurs may have been green and brown so they could blend in with their surroundings.
  22. A T-rex could eat up to 22 tons of meat each year.
  23. Researchers have discovered about 40 kinds of dinosaur eggs.
  24. Dinosaurs were not the only ancient enormous species. For example, the Megalodon, a famously large pre-historic shark, was three times the size of the average shark today.
  25. The biggest hunting dinosaur was the Spinosaurus. It was 49 feet long.
  26. Many scientists believe that birds are related to dinosaurs.
  27. The biggest plant-eating dinosaur was the Argentinosaurus. It was up to 98 feet long.
  28. The tallest plant-eating dinosaur was the Brachiosaurus. It was up to 38 feet tall.
  29. Paleontologists use dinosaur footprints to determine how tall and heavy a dinosaur could have been.
  30. A Pentaceratops had a skull that was 10 feet long.
  31. Stegosaurus plates could grow as large as 30 inches.
  32. The Lesothosaurus was about the size of a chicken.
  33. The first American dinosaur was found in 1858 in Haddonfield, New Jersey.
  34. Reverend William Buckland was the first person to name a dinosaur. In 1824 he named it Megalosaurus, which means “great lizard.”
  35. The largest dinosaur eggs could hold about two gallons of liquid.
  36. Some scientists have humorously guessed that the Brachiosaurus passed so much gas that it raised the temperature of Earth.
  37. Oviraptor means “egg stealer.”
  38. Paleontologists found a piece of fossilized T-rex poop that was the size of a loaf of bread.
  39. Scientists speculate that some dinosaurs laid their eggs in a circle and lay in the middle to avoid crushing any of them.
  40. The spikes on a Stegosaurus tail could be as big as a three-year-old child.
  41. The oldest dinosaur is the Eoraptor.
  42. Pterodactyls were reptiles, not dinosaurs.
  43. Some types of dinosaurs snuggled.
  44. Dinosaur fossils are not actual bones.
  45. Dinosaurs are divided into two categories depending on the shape of their hips: bird-hipped (Ornithischia) and lizard-hipped (Saurischia).
  46. Dinosaurs went extinct very quickly.
  47. Most dinosaur bones have been found in the United States and China.
  48. The longest dinosaur egg ever found was about 2 feet long.
  49. The largest dinosaur bone ever found weighed over 2000 pounds. Scientists believe it to be the backbone of an Argentinosaurus.
  50. Paleontologists believe that there are many more species of dinosaurs yet to be discovered.

Perhaps these facts will encourage your students to make discoveries to add to this list of fascinating information about dinosaurs.

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50 Fun Facts About Dinosaurs For Kids!