How Dinosaurs Are Depicted When There Aren’t Enough Fossils

Dinosaurs have been depicted in many different forms from past to present. Even when dinosaur fossils were just beginning to be found very similar to iguana was thought.

Thanks to the fact that we now have access to so many fossils what they look like we know very little. So how were they depicted when there weren’t enough fossils?

Who are these dinosaurs?

Dinosaurs originated 233-243 million years ago. only living members Arcosaurus is a group of reptiles that are birds. Where they live, how many species they have, how they disappeared and their place in the ecosystem have always been a research topic for science.

The ground will tremble the mass It has been documented that there are 1,000 species of dinosaurs of this size. While there weren’t as many fossils as we could find out about them, they were thought to be slightly different from their current depictions.

Based on the first found jaw fossil, it was thought to be a large reptile.

An approximately 2 meter long one found in 1824. jaw fossilIt is brought to Oxford Geological Engineer William Buckland for examination. Buckland claims that it belongs to a large reptile, based only on the jaw fossil.

Based on this fossil, it was named Megalosaurus. carnivorous dinosaur, is depicted in the figure above. According to the fossils we have reached today, the actual appearance of the megalosaurus is as in the picture below:

It was estimated to resemble a giant iguana.

Dedicated to fossils, British geologist Dr. Gideon Algernon Mantell described this creature based on the tooth fossils found. a small lizard It depicts the iguana as a giant form. Therefore, the owner of the teeth is called “Iguanodon”. “iguana gear” gives its name.

When the bones found later were examined, the dinosaurs were horned animals It is thought to be a finger, but in the image revealed by the discovery of other fossils, it is understood that the bone they thought was horn was actually a finger.

Depicted dinosaur species with upward spines: Hylaeosaurus

When the first fossil remains of Hylaeosaurus were found in the 1830s, to thorny bones was thought to have. With remains completed later, it appears that his spiny bones were actually sideways.

These bones, Hylaeosaurus because it is herbivorous It was developed so that other carnivorous dinosaur species could not get close to them.

“Deinos+Sauros”, meaning “terrible lizard”

In 1842, the British comparative anatomist Sir Richard Owen; It comparatively examines Megalosaurus, Iguanadon, and Hylaeosaurus. In his examination, he notices serious similarities, especially in the foot and hip bones.

Thus, in Greek deinos (terrible) + sauros (lizard) combining the names we know as “dinosaur”.