The term dinosaur (deinos means terrifying; sauros means lizard) was coined by the English anatomist Sir Richard Owen in 1842.(Haines, 97).
The term "dinosaurs", or the scientific version "Dinosaurian", is describing a diverse group of species with widely different styles of living. Dinosaurs were one of several kinds of prehistoric reptiles that lived during the Mesozoic Era, the "Age of Reptiles." (Lambert, 56).
Scientists have been finding and studying dinosaur fossils for centuries. As long ago as 300 A.D. a Chinese scholar wrote of the discovery of "dragon bones." And some experts now believe that giant creatures of Greek and Roman mythology may have had their roots in fossil finds. But it was really less than two hundred years ago that scientists began to grasp the scope and significance of these ancient creatures. Dinosaurs' fossils have been known since at least 1818, .
Types of Dinosaurs: .
While the imaginary of storywriter seems to center around one type of Dinosaurs, scientists have discovered from study of various types of fossils of Dinosaurs that Dinosaurs evolved into many sizes and shapes. .
They were quite diverse. Scientists believe that they vary from an animal like a long-necked Brachiosaurus to a large fierce meat-eater like Tyrannosaurus Rex. .
In 1818 study of available fossils, indicated to the scientists existence of only three dinosaurs known at the time were Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, and Hylaeosaurus, very large dinosaurs. .
The largest dinosaurs were over one hundred feet (30 m) long and up to fifty feet (15 m) tall, like Argentinosaurus, Seismosaurus, Ultrasauros, Brachiosaurus, and Supersaurus. The smallest dinosaurs, like Compsognathus, were about the size of a chicken. Most dinosaurs were in-between. .
Later studies revealed that Tyrannosaurus Rex is the most memorable of all Dinosaurs. It was the king of his time and no other dinosaur would stand up to him. On an average, most Tyrannosauruses" weighed at least seven tons and were over forty feet long.
