Are dinosaurs alive today? Prehistoric animals... in our time. Are all dinosaurs extinct?
Vyrova Evgenia
“From early childhood, I liked cartoons and films about dinosaurs. This year I visited Dino Park, where I saw a recreated picture of the life of animals that lived long before the advent of humanity. And all the time I wanted to understand how they lived, why they became extinct, and "Do they have relatives in our world? After all, many existing animals are similar to dinosaurs."
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City Scientific Society
Department of Education of the Administration of Novouralsk City District
Municipal autonomous educational institution
"Secondary school No. 56
with in-depth study of individual subjects"
DO DINOSAURS EXIST IN OUR TIMES?
Novouralsk city district, 2014
Plan
1.Introduction 3
2. Main part 4
2.1 Historical background 4
2.2 Research part
2.2.1. Comparison of dinosaurs with mammals 5
2.2.2. Comparison of dinosaurs with birds 5
2.2.3. Closest relatives of dinosaurs 6
2.3. Questionnaire 6
3.Conclusion 9
4.Literature 10
5.Appendices 11
1. Introduction
From early childhood I liked cartoons and films about dinosaurs. This year I visited Dino Park, where I saw a recreated picture of the life of animals that lived long before the advent of humanity. And all the time I wanted to understand how they lived, why they died out, and whether they had relatives in our world. After all, many existing animals are similar to dinosaurs.
Purpose of the study: find out if there are relatives of dinosaurs in our time.
Research problem: compare animals and birds with different types of dinosaurs, conduct a survey and a class hour.
Methods:
theoretical (familiarity with literature, working with a computer);
practical (research of birds, lizards, questioning, conducting a class hour.)
Hypothesis : I think that in our time there are animals that are relatives of dinosaurs. For example: giraffes, rhinoceroses, ostriches, crocodiles, lizards, hatterias, monitor lizards, agamas, geckos.
Relevance : Interest in dinosaurs does not disappear among children of all generations, so we considered this topic relevant and decided to find out who the relatives of dinosaurs are currently. After all, many modern animals are similar to dinosaurs. This is how this work was born.
Object of study: modern reptiles (lizards).
Subject of study: external signs of modern reptiles.
2. Main part
2.1 Historical background
Dinosaurs (from the Greek “terrible lizards”) are animals belonging to the class of reptiles. They could be the size of a cat or chicken, or they could reach the size of huge whales. Some of them walked on 4 limbs, while others ran on their hind legs. Among them there were dexterous hunters and predators, but there were also harmless herbivores, some of them switched to life in the water. Some of them were slow, while others could move at great speed.
Dinosaurs appeared on our planet approximately 285 million years ago and became extinct 65 million years ago. These are some of the most amazing living creatures on our planet. All dinosaurs were reptiles with scaly skin and claws on their feet. Most of them laid hard-shelled eggs.At that time, a warm, dry climate established on Earth. Only those who could hide from the dry air in the swamps survived, or those who had drier skin, better developed lung sacs, and could lay eggs in a dense shell with a large supply of nutrients. Seymouria is considered the most ancient and primitive reptile (lizard). This animal is 0.5 m long and looks very much like a stegocephalus.
The study of the remains (on the territory of Russia) was carried out by Professor V.P. Amalitsky on the Northern Dvina River in the 20th century. When the climate began to change, smaller reptiles survived. Some of them have survived to this day unchanged, for example, hatteria, monitor lizards. Modern reptiles (reptiles) are divided into the order of squamates (snakes, lizards), the order of turtles and the order of crocodiles. They are very similar to ancient lizards.
Some other non-reptiles may look like dinosaurs, but that's not enough. The skeletons and behavioral features should be similar. This is what I want to prove by making observations and comparisons.
2.2 Research part
2.2.1. Comparison of dinosaurs with mammals.
Let's take a giraffe for comparison.
Diplodocus is a representative of the lizard-hipped dinosaurs - sauropods. Diplodocus was truly gigantic in size and is known as one of the longest dinosaurs. In addition, Diplodocus is one of the herbivorous dinosaurs.
The giraffe is a mammal from the order Artiodactyla. The tallest of modern animals. GIRAFFE: Thanks to its long neck, it can eat leaves from the tops of trees in the same way as diplodocus.
Let's compare the Armadillo and the Ankylosaurus:
The body of the ankylosaur was covered with a shell consisting of fused bony scutes, spines or dorsal girdles, and on the tail there was a bony outgrowth that was used for self-defense. The armadillo is also covered with a bone shell like the ankylosaur.
Let's compare Triceratops with Rhinoceros:
Triceratops was a pretty tough animal. Its forelimbs were bent like those of a lizard, its hind limbs were straightened, like the limbs of a rhinoceros. This meant that the dinosaur was almost impossible to move.
Triceratops has a large bony collar and threehorns on the face.
RHINO looks roughly like a Triceratops. He also has a large, heavy body and a horn on his nose.
All this suggests that the ancestors of mammals were ancient lizards.
2.2.2. Comparison of dinosaurs with birds.
While researching birds, I discovered an amazing thing. The bones of the legs of birds are very similar in structure to the bones of the legs of dinosaurs - predators. Although birds are not reptiles, there are still several very important similarities: birds' legs are covered with scales, birds lay eggs in hard shells.
Many scientists believe that birds are the closest relatives of dinosaurs: the ostrich looks very similar to the string mime, and runs just as fast.
2.2.3. The closest relatives of dinosaurs.
The closest relatives of dinosaurs are modern reptiles.
Let's compare dinosaurs with reptiles.
Let's compare a crocodile with dinosaurs.
About 250 million years ago, a group of reptiles appeared - archosaurs. From them came:
pterosaurs - aerial reptiles
dinosaurs - land reptiles
crocodiles are inhabitants of rivers and swamps.
This means that crocodiles are the closest relatives of dinosaurs that have survived to our time. If you watch crocodiles - how they catch and eat prey, how they care for their offspring, you get a rough idea of the lifestyle of dinosaurs.
Thus, modern reptiles, birds and mammals descended from ancient lizards.
My hypothesis about the existence of relatives of dinosaurs in our time was confirmed. I decided to find out during class whether the guys in my class knew about this.
2.3 Questionnaire
During class, I talked about my research and what else I learned about lizards.
What sounds did dinosaurs make?
Dinosaurs used sound signals when communicating. Scientists believe that they made trumpet sounds.
Why does a dinosaur have a tail?
Probably, first of all, the tails served to make the animal more stable, because its head is very heavy and its neck is massive. It is also believed that when running and turning, the tail acted as a rudder. Some dinosaurs had a tail adapted to protect the animal; a blow with such a tail caused a noticeable defeat to an opponent. Some scientists believe that the long tails of dinosaurs had a grasping function, and dinosaurs used them in the same way as a modern elephant uses its trunk.
Why did dinosaurs become extinct?
A more convincing and justified point of view is that the extinction of dinosaurs did not occur suddenly, but continued over a fairly long crisis period. Living conditions gradually deteriorated for those animals that were adapted to a uniform warm and humid climate, to a rich flora and fauna. Constant movements of continents and seas have led to significant climate changes. Warm conditions without any temperature changes gave way to colder nights and harsher winters.
Then I offered to answer a few questions.
QUESTIONNAIRE
- When did the ancient lizards live?
500 million years 100 million years
285 million years 700 million years
- Where did the ancient lizards live?
in dry warm areas in ice
in the mountains
- List of modern relatives of ancient lizards?
60 people answered the survey questions.
The first question was mostly answered correctly.
All the guys answered the second question correctly. Dinosaurs (ancient lizards) lived in warm areas.
To the third question, several people named a crocodile and lizards, but no one knows the exact names of the reptiles that live now.
Conclusion from the questionnaire : The guys need to tell about modern reptiles (lizards and snakes). The guys know more about ancient lizards than about modern ones. This means that my work is relevant and can be used in lessons about the world around us.
3.Conclusion
Thus, While studying the structural features of modern animals, I came to the conclusion that the evolutionary chain could look like this:
Dinosaurs – Archeopteryx – Birds
That is, the pigeons we feed in parks may be among the closest relatives of dinosaurs.
Crocodiles are also relatives of dinosaurs. They developed in parallel with dinosaurs.
Archaeosaurs
Land dinosaurs Flying dinosaurs
Scaly Turtles Crocodiles Archeopteryx
Birds
4.Literature
- Mamontov S.G. Biology. General patterns.-M.: Bustard 2001.-287 p.
- Nikishov A.I. Sharova I.Kh. Biology. Animals.-M.: Education, 2000.-256 p.
- I'm exploring the world. Children's encyclopedia. Animals.-M.: LLC Astrel, LLC AST, 2000.-400 p.
Methods: Theoretical (reading literature, working with a computer) Practical (observations and study of the structure of birds, lizards and other animals)
Hypothesis: Giraffes, rhinoceroses, crocodiles, lizards are very similar to dinosaurs. This means they are relatives of dinosaurs, so we can say that dinosaurs currently live on earth
Relevance Interest in dinosaurs does not disappear among children of all generations, so it is necessary to study modern animals, birds, and reptiles in more detail. Many of them are very similar to lizards
Historical background Dinosaurs (from the Greek “terrible lizards”) - appeared on Earth approximately 285 million years ago. Dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago. All dinosaurs were reptiles with scaly skin and claws on their paws. Most of them laid eggs.
When the climate on Earth became dry, dinosaurs began to die out. Studying the remains of lizards, scientists came to the conclusion that there are still lizards on Earth, they are called reptiles. The most ancient and primitive reptile (lizard) is considered to be Seymouria
Research part Looking at the giraffe, we can assume that it is similar to the ancient diplodocus lizard Diplodocus Giraffe
Comparing the armadillo with the ancient lizard ankylosaur, we can say that in appearance they are very similar. Ankylosaurus Armadillo
The modern rhinoceros is very similar to the Triceratops Triceratops Rhinoceros
Scientists suggest that birds are the closest relatives of dinosaurs. The ostrich is similar in appearance to the Struthiomimus Struthiomimus Ostrich
The paws of birds and the body structure of birds are no different from the paws and body of the flying lizards Pteranodon Seagull
The well-known crocodile is the closest relative of the dinosaur - the archosaur. Archosaur Crocodile.
Hatteria and monitor lizards have survived unchanged since ancient times. Hatteria and monitor lizards live in southern countries and can only be seen in pictures. Hatteria Varan
Conclusions: Lizards still live on Earth. The closest relatives of ancient lizards are modern reptiles and birds
Archaeosaurs Land dinosaurs Flying dinosaurs Scaly turtles Crocodiles Archeopteryx Birds
She told the kids about dinosaurs during class. The students answered the survey questions. 60 people took part in the survey.
Questionnaire 1. When did the ancient lizards live? 500 million years 100 million years. 285 million years. 700 million years. 2. Where did the ancient lizards live? in dry warm areas in ice in the mountains 3. List of modern relatives of ancient lizards?
Conclusions: The kids know more about ancient animals than about modern ones. She told about modern animals during class. This means the work is relevant and can be used in lessons about the environment and biology.
Thank you for your attention!
Dinosaurs (from the Greek dinosauria, deinos - “terrible” and saurus - “lizard”) lived during the Mesozoic era, which is divided into three periods: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. Over the entire history of studying the remains of ancient lizards, paleontologists have been able to identify and describe over 500 different species of these reptiles.
Where and in what territories ancient lizards lived, see the infographics of AiF.ru.
When did the first dinosaurs appear?
The first dinosaurs, archosaurs, appeared 230 million years ago. Typical representatives of the Triassic period were Placerias, Plateosaurus, Coelophysis, Cynodont, and Petheinosaurus. What dinosaurs lived in Russia from the Triassic to Cretaceous periods,
During the Jurassic period, when a temperate climate established on Earth, flying lizards (Archaeopteryx, Pterodactyl, Pterosaur), as well as large predatory dinosaurs (Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, Anurognathus, Allosaurus, Ankylosaurus and others) appeared. The remains of some of them are paleontologists.
During the last period of the Mesozoic era, giant lizards lived on Earth, many of them reaching 5–8 meters in height and 20 meters in length. Typical reptiles of the Cretaceous period: Velociraptor, Seismosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Iguanodon and Culasuchus.
What dinosaurs lived in Russia during the Mesozoic era?
How long did dinosaurs live?
Paleontologists believe that the lifespan of small species ranged from one to two decades, and large dinosaurs could live from 200 to 300 years.
Who inhabited the Tula region 300 million years ago,
Why did dinosaurs become extinct?
The changes that occurred on Earth at the end of the Cretaceous period led to the gradual extinction of all types of dinosaurs. Possible reasons for the disappearance may include the following:
- an asteroid that fell to Earth;
- sudden warming and climate change;
- a strong earthquake or volcanic eruption;
- an increase in the number of mammals that ate food familiar to dinosaurs.
What marine animals lived on the territory of Russia in ancient times,
When were dinosaur bones first discovered?
The first dinosaur skeleton was described in the 1820s by British paleontologist William Buckland.
When was the last time a dinosaur was discovered on Russian territory?
The last significant discovery was made in 2014. During the extraction of shale, an almost intact skeleton of an ichthyosaur was discovered.
To what extent do we humans know the animal world of our planet well? This question will surprise most people. In fact: there are many scientific works that can fully satisfy curiosity in this area. It seems that in the 21st century there are and cannot be secrets in the animal world. But it is not so. And these days, from time to time there are reports saying that the animal world has not been studied as well as we might think.
In the 20th century, various kinds of studies of mysterious animals similar to dragons, or, in scientific terms, dinosaurs that lived on Earth in prehistoric times, were very popular.
One should not think that modern man, tired of everyday affairs and worries, suddenly suddenly believed in fairy tales, myths and legends that mention dragons and other mythical creatures. In fact, reports, for example, about plesiosaurs look quite convincing and are within the scope of scientific interests of a number of zoologists.
Are all dinosaurs extinct?
Any modern person knows that prehistoric animals disappeared from the face of the Earth a long time ago, millions of years ago. The question of why this happened is very interesting. After all, dinosaurs became extinct in a very short period, although they lived on Earth for more than 150 million years. Over such a long period of time, the climate on the planet has repeatedly changed and there have been many other changes to which animals have been able to adapt quite successfully.
The dinosaurs disappeared in about 5 million years, that is, very quickly. There are many hypotheses trying to explain this disappearance. One of the scientists, American geophysicist U. Alvarez, proposed a very original version. In the second half of the 20th century, he studied an underwater canyon in Italy and discovered in a layer of clay that belonged to the end of the Mesozoic era (it was during that era that dinosaurs disappeared) that there was an increased content of iridium - 30 times more than is usually found in the earth's crust.
The fact is that there is not so much iridium in the bowels of the Earth; it is more often found in other cosmic bodies. The scientist suggested that at the end of the Mesozoic era, our planet collided with a large asteroid, the diameter of which was more than 10 km. An asteroid crashed into the Earth at high speed. As a result, the iridium content in the earth's crust increased, which in itself, however, was not dangerous for dinosaurs.
But when the asteroid collided, a huge amount of dust rose into the air. The surface of the planet was covered with a dust curtain from the Sun. Due to lack of sunlight, plants began to die. Many dinosaurs were herbivores and ate about 2 quintals of plants per day. They began to die of hunger, which meant that the predators, in turn, began to lack food. As a result, all dinosaurs became extinct. Of course, this is just one hypothesis.
Prehistoric creatures - guests from the Mesozoic era
Meanwhile, cryptozoology assures us that many prehistoric animals have not disappeared, but live in our time. Or, at least, they lived relatively not so long ago.
16th century – S. Herberstein, diplomat, traveler and writer, served as the Austrian ambassador in Russia. In his diary, he described people who lived in the forests and kept large lizard-like snakes with four legs and pointed black bodies as pets.
In Russian chronicles of the 16th century there is a record of how “crocodiles” came out of a river near Novgorod and ate many people. This entry is dated 1582. Of course, it is possible to suspect the ancient chronicler of a hoax, but at that distant time the chroniclers were precisely chroniclers, and not science fiction writers. And maybe everything was exactly as it was said in the chronicle.
A few years later, in 1589, the Englishman J. Garcia, while in Russia, saw a dead crocodile on the river bank. From the point of view of official science, crocodiles should not have lived in Eastern Europe. But we are talking about the 16th century. It can be assumed that these reptiles were found in Russian reservoirs at that time. In the future, they could die both from natural causes and as a result of aggression from people. Now it is no longer possible to find out whether those “crocodiles” were prehistoric lizards.
In Scotland there is one fairly deep lake - Loch Morar. According to eyewitnesses, this lake is home to a creature unknown to science. In the 1970s, scientists conducted special research on this lake, after which they stated that they personally saw a large animal with a head similar to a snake. The size of the strange creature exceeded 13 meters. One of the researchers, Professor G. Vakhrushev, is convinced that the mysterious creatures that are talked about so much are in fact lake plesiosaurs; today they may well live in lakes that originated from freshwater reservoirs of the Mesozoic era.
Unknown monsters can exist not only in water, but also on land. It is very interesting that the Irish mysterious beasts are similar in appearance to the mythological creatures “kelpies”, about which there are many legends in Western Scotland. Ireland and Scotland are very close, so it is not surprising that the legends and myths of these countries are similar.
Meanwhile, there is information about mysterious creatures that have been observed in Russia. For example, they say that Nessie’s “relatives” live in the lakes of Yakutia, namely prehistoric animals that should have disappeared from the face of the earth a long time ago.
So, in the middle of the 20th century, some people were lucky enough to see a strange creature whose description was very similar to a plesiosaur. One of the eyewitnesses (who also managed to sketch a hitherto unprecedented animal) was an employee of the biological detachment of the Yakut branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The fish lizard was also seen by geologists working in Yakutia.
It is curious that the Yakuts have long been sure: monsters live in their lakes, feeding on fish and even birds that settle on the shores of reservoirs. The monsters did not disdain people who went to the lakes to fish. Of course, local legends did not at all pretend to be “scientific”. People only wanted to warn each other about the terrible danger and in no case were chasing sensations.
The stories are quite interesting. Aristotle and Euripides also wrote about them. There is a legend that in the 8th century BC. e. King Sargon II saw a huge sea snake off the coast of Cyprus. An image of this creature was found during archaeological excavations in Assyria on the walls of the Korsadad Palace.
Modern scientists do not deny the possibility that prehistoric animals can survive today. Some stories of witnesses who personally saw strange creatures are given by the famous popularizer of science V. Mezentsev in one of his books.
1734 - the Danish missionary P. Egende sailed on a ship along the coast of Greenland, and this is what he wrote in the logbook: “We saw a terrible animal, unlike anything we had seen before. It raised its head so high above the waves that it seemed to tower above the tops of our ship. The monster breathed weaker than the whale; his head was narrower than his body, which seemed short and wrinkled. The animal moved with the help of huge fins located under its belly. After some time we saw his tail. The total length of the monster exceeded the length of our ship."
1848 - the captain of the English warship Daedalus wrote in the logbook: “When our attention was attracted by an object that appeared on the surface of the sea, we decided that it was a huge snake. We did not notice any limbs that served the animal for movement in the water, and no signs of horizontal movement. It passed quickly at such a close distance that it could be seen with the naked eye. It was moving at a speed of 12-15 miles per hour...
Behind the head, the diameter of the animal’s body was 40–50 centimeters. During the 20 minutes of observation, the snake's head was constantly above the surface of the water. It was brown on top and light yellow underneath. The animal had no fins, but on its back it had something like a mane or a tuft of algae.”
From this description it doesn't look particularly mysterious. There is nothing mystical about it. But science has not described such a creature. Or rather, sea snakes themselves are well known. They live in tropical seas and are dangerous to people because they are very poisonous. But sea snakes are small, the largest individuals are no more than 2 meters. Eyewitnesses report real giants, which, according to descriptions, are similar to prehistoric animals.
Mezentsev cites an extract from the log of the ship “Osborne” for 1877: “The movement of the animal’s flat fins was like that of a turtle, and it looked like a huge seal... The ship was located at the latitude of the island of Sicily, and this is the only observation made in the Mediterranean Sea. Some believed that this animal was an ichthyosaur, others were inclined to see it as a giant turtle.”
1904 - The French Academy of Sciences drew attention to the following message, which was discussed at a special scientific meeting: “On the afternoon of February 25, 1904, heading towards the exit from the bay, the Decide met a mysterious animal at the height of the cliffs of Nua... I saw all parts of the animal , successively plunging into the water with vertical wave-like movements. It looked like a flattened snake and, according to my estimate, reached a length of up to 30 meters with a maximum thickness of 4-5 meters.”
20th century - the Belgian scientist B. Euvelmans studied sea monsters, which are similar in description to prehistoric animals.
He is sure that the eyewitness stories are not fiction and such creatures actually live in the depths of the sea. The scientist wrote: “It seems to me that the legend of the sea serpent arose because people had to meet with various (it is not yet known which) very large snake-shaped animals belonging to different classes: fish, reptiles, mammals.”
1915, July 30 - off the coast of Ireland, the British steamer Iberion was blown up by the German submarine I-28. The captain of the German submarine noticed that after the explosion of the steamer, a huge animal floated to the surface of the water. The length of its body was about 20 meters, in appearance it resembled a crocodile with four flippers instead of paws. After about a quarter of a minute, the monster disappeared under the water.
1932 - An earthquake occurred in the Newfoundland area. Many corpses of marine life were washed ashore. Among them was a sea serpent, a huge creature with a pointed head.
1947 - fisherman D. Zegers near Vancouver Island off the western coast of North America saw an unknown creature. He described the meeting this way: “Suddenly I felt very strange. A shiver ran down my spine, and I began to feel like someone was watching me. I looked around. To the left, about 45 meters from the boat, a head and neck more than a meter long rose above the water, two pitch-black eyes looked intently. They protruded from the head like two buns. I have never seen anything like this before.
The head was 40 centimeters in diameter. Looking at me, the animal turned away, and I saw its back. She had something like a dark brown mane, which consisted more of tufts of warts than hair.”
In the same 1947, in North Carolina, near Cape Lookout, the crew of a Greek ship saw an amazing creature with a cylindrical dark brown body and a snake head. The creature was wounded, and the water around it was stained with blood. And in the late 40s, a skeleton was discovered off the western coast of North America. Scientists decided that this skeleton belongs to a sea serpent. The length of the creature's spine was 12 meters.
1959 - fishermen in the city of Durban saw a whole herd of sea monsters. There were at least 20 of them, the length of each creature seemed to be about 10 meters.
1963 - also seen off the coast of Iceland. A year later, in Massachusetts Bay, the crew of a fishing boat spotted a sea serpent 15 meters long. Soon we managed to take several photographs of the sea monster. Its length, according to eyewitnesses, was about 25 meters. The snake's head was massive and round, the width and length of the head were more than two meters. The animal had uneven skin, without scales. Body color is black with brown rings. But some of the scientists decided that the pictures were either a hoax, or that they captured, for example, a giant sea eel. Scientists' skepticism is understandable. But it makes no sense to dismiss the numerous evidence of the existence of sea monsters.
1977 - in the area of New Zealand, the Japanese trawler Tsuyomaru picked up the corpse of an unknown creature from great depths (about 300 meters). The animal had a tail up to 2 m long, a small head, a long neck, the total length of its body was 13 m, and it weighed about 2 tons. Scientists did not fully examine the body of the sea monster because it was already decomposing and the crew did not dare to take on board the rotting carcass. He was thrown into the sea, having previously been photographed and the corresponding entries made in the ship's log. One piece of fin was left and put in the refrigerator. Scientists became interested in the find.
Some Japanese experts said that the creature was a plesiosaur, others believed that it was the corpse of a huge shark or a small whale. The situation was further complicated by the fact that the carcass was half-decomposed, so identifying it was not easy. But after carefully studying the fin, scientists found a protein in it that whales do not have. Sharks have such a protein, and it was also once in the tissues of prehistoric animals, which included plesiosaurs. The fact that the body was a prehistoric lizard is also supported by the fact that its head did not look like a shark (it was too small). But the mystery was never solved.
1998 - a sea monster with a long neck was seen in the sea off the coast of British Columbia. Canadian newspapers wrote about this. The riddle was never solved. In Zambia, local residents are sure that in one of the reservoirs there lives a monster of enormous size that feeds on large animals, in particular hippopotamuses. According to evidence, a dinosaur-like monster also lives in the jungles of the Congo.
In the 1980s, University of Chicago professor R. McKell, who had been studying the Loch Ness monster for a long time, made a special trip to this country. He tried to find out more about the animal that lives in the Congo. The professor collected many eyewitness accounts; their descriptions of the animal coincided. It reached 12 meters in length, had a huge tail and a long neck. The creature's skin was gray-brown, its tracks resembled those of an elephant, but differed in the presence of claws. The description of the creature perfectly matches the characteristics of a dinosaur.
The professor suggested that the dinosaur could well have lived in the local jungle, especially since the climate there has not changed over the past few tens of millions of years. Soon Makell organized another expedition into the jungles of the Congo. He was primarily interested in the little-explored area of Lake Tele.
The lake is located among impenetrable forests. It has long attracted the attention of scientists. So, in 1913 a German expedition visited there. Researchers were able to find traces of an unknown creature in the lake. But the war began, and the expedition was curtailed.
Makkel was also unlucky. His second expedition was prevented by a conflict with local residents. A few years later, in 1983, one of the participants in this expedition, a graduate of the University of Havana M. Añanya, decided to go on a search again. He was from the Congo, so he knew the local beliefs well. The researcher interviewed local residents and wrote down a variety of stories about the monster.
One day he himself saw a dinosaur head on a long neck in Lake Tele. The animal noticed the people and began to dive under water. Using binoculars, the researcher was able to examine the creature in sufficient detail and concluded that it was a prehistoric animal. It was not possible to photograph the monster.
There is evidence that similar creatures live in Zambia and Mozambique. Dinosaurs could well have survived on the African continent, where the climate is so favorable for reptiles. There is a lot of unexplored territory here and in our time.
In prehistoric times, animals, which we can rightfully call “monsters,” lived everywhere - in the depths of the sea and on land. They swam, ran, flew. By the way, our contemporaries also saw such flying monsters. True, flying prehistoric lizards were much less common than sea monsters. This is quite understandable. We humans have been very poor at exploring the underwater world, especially the deep sea. But with land the situation is different.
Here humanity has developed vast territories. And yet, the winged monsters remained in some places. Perhaps these are pterodactyls?
1932 - the famous American zoologist A. Sanderson was on an expedition in Cameroon. One day he saw a small dragon flying through the air (at least the creature looked like a dragon). The scientist looked at it carefully and could swear that the “dragon” did not belong to a species known to science. After some time, Sanderson saw the dragon again. The lizard flew so fast that it knocked down one of the expedition members, made several circles, and then flew away.
The expedition had a local guide. He became very agitated at the sight of the little dragon and declared that the monster was a harbinger of death and whoever saw it would soon die. But Sanderson was not so pessimistic. He decided that the flying creature was a prehistoric pterodactyl.
This is not the only “ancient” lizard that supposedly lives in Africa. There is a belief that on the border of Zaire and Angola there is a huge - up to two meters in length - flying lizard with sharp teeth. There it is also believed that seeing her is a bad omen.
In the 1970s, in the USA, in the state of South Carolina, incredible monsters were repeatedly seen in the swamps. They were covered with green scales, their height reached 2 meters. The creatures walked on their hind legs. According to the description, they also resembled prehistoric animals.
1976, June - a 16-year-old teenager saw a lizard running across the field straight towards him. The boy barely escaped in the car. Then the police received several more reports of this mysterious animal. But it was not possible to catch him, although traces were found.
Of course, this kind of message can be perceived as a kind of hoax. But we must remember that scientists to this day have not refuted the existence of prehistoric animals. In fact, the mystery of the “modern dinosaurs” has not yet been solved. And it may well be that in the future we will learn a lot of new and interesting things about this.
O. Larina
Today we will talk about one of the most mysterious phenomena on the planet - about the life and death of dinosaurs, about the period when they lived.
It’s hard to imagine that on the land we walk on today, where grass grows, trees, where everything is filled with high-rise buildings, cars, construction sites, dirt... (man doesn’t even challenge his power over the earth) dinosaurs once walked, and in the same way, Like people today, many millions of years ago they considered the earth only theirs. Once upon a time, dinosaurs were the masters here... and along the streets where today cars, buses, and people walk, ancient lizards proudly walked: T-Rexes, Archeopteryx, Titanosaurs, Compsognathus, Spinosaurus, Corythosaurus, Dromiosauridae, Theropods, Archaeoceratopsians, Velociraptors, etc. d.
There are even versions that there were no dinosaurs... And completely proven versions. Scientists who study antiquity hold both the view that dinosaurs are a fact of the past and the view that they never existed. However, in this article we will consider the version of the death of dinosaurs, based on the fact that they existed.
Nowadays we can observe dinosaurs in sets of children's toys, models reproduced by designers, scientists, archaeologists, paleontologists in museums such as Jurassic Park, the city of ancient lizards, etc.
Dinosaurs became the heroes of science fiction films and literary works; their image, which exists only in the mind, disappeared from the face of the earth many millions of years ago, excites the minds of mankind to this day. What is the secret of such attractiveness is unclear, perhaps, as usual - a long-forgotten past with cruel heroes makes the blood run cold much more strongly than invented ghosts with wings.
Dinosaurs lived on Earth more than 100 million years ago; according to other versions, they became extinct about 60 million years ago. Dinosaurs began to be called dinosaurs in 1842 after the designation of the so-found remains of ancient dinosaurs by an English biologist. Dinosaurs disappeared from the face of the Earth more than 60 million years before the appearance of humans. The first skeletons and bones of dinosaurs were discovered in 1822, a couple of decades later they were given the appropriate name and the mystery of their life and death began to be more actively explored.
One might doubt their existence, but the remains of these mysterious animals are still regularly found at archaeological excavations; the length of the found skeletons reaches several tens of meters. These are reborn lizards, reptiles, today the likeness of dinosaurs is representatives of lizards, crocodiles, sea creatures.
Most dinosaurs lived in parts of the planet with a hot climate, in Australia, the USA, Africa, China, especially many skeletons were found in Nevada, Australia, and America. The remains of many dinosaurs were collected and reconstructed into a project of a whole dinosaur (in skeletal form) and exhibited as exhibits in museums and parks. There are exhibition complexes with dinosaurs in a copied form (for example, the Jurassic Park museum) with images of dinosaurs recreated using modern technologies (how they looked was determined from the found remains using special programs).
“Dinosaurs (Latin Dinosauria, from ancient Greek δεινός - “terrible, terrible, dangerous” and σαῦρος - “lizard, lizard”) - a superorder of terrestrial vertebrates that dominated the Earth in the Mesozoic era - for more than 160 million years, from the Upper Triassic period (approximately 225 million years ago) until the end of the Cretaceous period (66 million years ago), when most began to go extinct during a large-scale extinction of animals and many plant species in a relatively short geological period period of history.
Fossil remains of dinosaurs have been found on all continents of the planet. Nowadays, paleontologists have described more than 500 different genera and more than 1000 different species, which are clearly divided into two orders: ornithischians and lizards. y."
Attention: “more than 500 different genera and more than 1000 different species have been described, which are clearly divided into two orders: ornithischians and lizards” (although some scientists make corrections: about half are named incorrectly, and a hundred duplicate others). That's how many species there were in two orders of dinosaurs, representatives of each species from several tens to several hundred thousand.
The main groups of dinosaurs: Ankylosaurs, Ceratopsians, Dinobirds, Ornithopods, Raptors, Hadrosaurs, Pachycephalosaurs, Theropods, Stegosaurs, Sauropods.
The brightest, most noticeable representatives of dinosaurs:
For example, the largest dinosaurs are:
Sarcohus is a huge reptile of the Cretaceous period that lived in Africa. In appearance, this is a large, large crocodile, more than 15 meters long, weighing 14 tons, today's crocodiles would look like its cubs. He ate other dinosaurs and fish.
In the photo Sarcohuz
Shantungosaurus is a huge representative of ornithischians; the first remains were found in China. The body length is about 15 meters, weight is 15 tons.
Liopleurodon is not only one of the largest, but also one of the most terrible dinosaurs, a group of reptiles. Length from 14 to 29 meters.
Shonisaurus is a fish lizard, ichthyosaur, 15 meters long, weighing 30-40 tons.
Shonisaurus in the photo
Spinosaurus - height 16-18 meters, weight 7 tons.
Diplodocus is a peace-loving dinosaur, a herbivore, a representative of lizards, 10 meters tall, 28-33 meters long, weighing 20-30 tons, had a very long tail, and a small skull.
Pictured is Diplodocus
And now about the real giants:
Sauroposeidon - length about 31 meters, weight more than 60 tons, height 18 meters, herbivore.
Futalognokosaurus - body length about 32-3 meters, height 15 meters, weight 80 tons.
Amphicelias- body length 40-65 meters, weight about 155 tons (!!!). Herbivorous.
Amphycelias in the photo
Well, one of the most brutal predators - T. rex (or tyrannosaurus) - had a body length of 12-13 meters, weight 9-10 tons. He ate other dinosaurs.
There were even suggestions by scientists that dinosaurs lived for some time on Earth along with the first people. Such thoughts of scientists were associated with the fact that drawings of dinosaurs made by humans were often found on rock inscriptions. How did man know and draw these animals if he missed them by 60 million years?? After all, it was difficult to find skeletons then, without the equipment and tools for excavations, and to recreate the full appearance and image of dinosaurs that went extinct millions of years ago is even more difficult. However, there were suggestions that there were lizards in the drawings. Nevertheless, scientists who examined them more carefully assure that they are dinosaurs.
And here’s another thing - scientists found dinosaur paw prints, somewhere right on the tracks, the casts were transferred to museums... What traces could remain if the Earth was burned by asteroids, then a tsunami passed, and the merciless sun and time simply had to burn everything out??
But they find some paw prints... Maybe then they come up with bones?
So, let us finally move on to the main question of the outcome of the life of dinosaurs, their death. Dinosaurs became extinct 60-80 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period; why this happened - physicists, astronauts, paleontologists, archaeologists give a lot of hypotheses.
The main version of the extinction of dinosaurs, which, according to scientists, lived on earth for more than a hundred million years and became extinct more than 60 million years ago, is the fall of a series of asteroids to the Earth, which ultimately resulted in a powerful explosion, a fire, and then a tsunami. Almost all living things or the bulk of animal species were wiped off the face of the Earth.
An asteroid or comet fell in the area of the Mexican island of Yucatan, and as a result of the impact, most of the animals became extinct. The main arguments in favor of this hypothesis are the coincidence of the extinction of many species of dinosaurs and the period of formation of the crater
Chicxulub - presumably the consequence of the fall of an asteroid about 10 km in size about 65 million years ago.
This hypothesis was put forward by American physicist Luis Alvarez in 1980. The impact of the asteroid raised a cloud of dust, produced an explosion, awakened dormant volcanoes, somewhere it is mentioned about the onset of an asteroid winter, as well as the subsequent sizzling fire from the explosion on most of the continents with a hot climate and a tsunami wave that captured a significant part of the planet, covering the land for hundreds meters, or even more.
A more plausible version is that such a powerful explosion and fire, which in seconds destroyed vast territories and the animals located on them, and a tsunami that covered the earth for hundreds and thousands of meters after, was caused by the fall of several asteroids and meteorites.
Films that project and imitate the last hours of the life of dinosaurs show the death of animals, talking about their fear and panic. Of course, this is too much, since we don’t even know the exact reasons for the disappearance of dinosaurs, we know these animals only from recreated models and that is, we have doubts whether they existed, and we are already fantasizing about what the dinosaurs “thought” before their death.
After the double defeat of the earth, only a few animals survived, and there were no dinosaurs among them. Their skeletons remained forever imprinted in the layers of the planet; the first remains began to be found in the 20th century; perhaps they were found before, but were not identified as the remains of ancient lizards.
“Among many other versions is increased volcanic activity: a gigantic outpouring of magma between 68 and 60 million years ago.
A number of scientists believe that dinosaurs were exterminated by the first predatory mammals, destroying clutches of eggs and young; a sharp drop in sea level, a sharp jump in the Earth’s magnetic field and other factors could also have an impact.”
Hypotheses of changes in the vegetation of the earth, an increase in flowering plants and the extinction of herbivorous species of dinosaurs in connection with this, then the extinction of carnivorous species due to the depletion of all “food” reserves are considered. Changing of the climate(continental drift) - for example, the slightest fluctuations led to problems hatching cubs from eggs - they died, atmospheric change- damage to the layers of the atmosphere due to volcanic activity or the fall of the same asteroid, a decrease in the amount of air and the extinction of all living things.
« Another hypothesis for the extinction of dinosaurs is a significant increase in the Earth’s volcanic activity. Most often, scientists refer to the Deccan Traps plateau, which is located in India and is covered with igneous basalt two kilometers thick. Its age is estimated at 60-68 million years.”
However, as scientists suggest, during the long process of the onset of “winter” on the planet (due to long-term volcanic activity), dinosaurs could adapt and survive, just as crocodiles did.
According to a new theory (2016), dinosaurs were already on the path to extinction at the time of the asteroid impact. that is, the role of the impact of a celestial body on the Earth was a secondary cause of the death of animals. The trend towards extinction of species began 80-75 million years ago. Moreover, scientists cannot establish the exact reasons for this; perhaps the split of supercontinents, climate change, an increase in the number of predators, etc.