Whether you’re a curious kid (or just a big kid at heart), dinosaurs are endlessly fascinating. Their enormous size, ferocious attitudes and lizard-like appearance make them prehistoric marvels that we love to learn about, so it’s no surprise that Sophie Allport’s new Dinosaur collection is inspired by her three boys’ enthusiasm for these marvellous creatures.
So why not wow your little ones with some exciting dinosaur facts? Diplodocus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, flying Pterodactyls and the famous T-Rex… here are ten amazing dinosaur facts to celebrate our roaring new range.
- The word ‘dinosaur’ comes from the Greek language, roughly translating to ‘terrible lizard’.
- As impressive as the T-Rex was, did you know that it wasn’t the largest carnivorous dinosaur to walk the earth? It was actually the Spinosaurus - a dinosaur that could grow to be larger than 50 feet long. It had a huge crocodile-like mouth, and even more amazingly, it could weigh up to 20 tonnes… more than three times the weight of a T-Rex.
- How heavy do you think the largest herbivorous dinosaur was? The same as five elephants? Eight elephants? Well, it was actually heavier than a dozen elephants, amounting to more than 100 tonnes. This dinosaur was called ‘Argentinosaurus’ and it could grow to be as much as 115 feet long - that’s roughly the equivalent of four fire engines.
- While some dinosaurs were very large, they didn’t always have the brain power to match. Stegosaurus’ brain was only 3 cm long - about the same as a walnut.
- Your little ones will love this dinosaur fact: scientists think that dinosaurs that had long necks had stomachs that acted as fermenting chambers, which meant lots of bacteria would grow in their guts. The result? Dinosaurs that were constantly a little bit, er… windy!
- Scientists believe that some dinosaurs had long tails because it helped them to stay balanced when they were running.
- T-Rex had a nasty bite… in fact, their mouths were filled with big sharp teeth, and their bite was eight times more powerful than a lion’s bite.
- Dinosaurs didn’t just roam the land or fly in the sky; they also swam in the sea. Kronosaurus was a dinosaur that was much more deadly than the Great White Shark that swims in the sea today, and it would eat other dinosaurs that accidentally strayed into the water.
- Can you imagine how scary a giant scorpion would be? Well, there was once a dinosaur that was very similar to today’s scorpions. ‘Pulmonoscorpius’ grew up to one metre long, and had giant claws and a sharp stinger.
- Dinosaur eggs came in all shapes and sizes - but they could be anywhere as big as rugby balls to basketballs!
Those are just ten fascinating dinosaur facts to wow your kids with. Do you have any more to share with us? And will you be treating your little ones to any of our new Dinosaurs range? We have mugs, backpacks, melamine, tooth fairy cushions and plenty of dinosaur print homewares too.
P.S. If you enjoyed these facts about dinosaurs, why not check out our blog post on facts about elephants or pugs? They’re not nearly as formidable, but they’re certainly very cute…
