Reptile dinosaurs? | AZ Animals

As you may know, history has consistently depicted dinosaurs as a species of reptile. Most of the media, like many scientists, agree with this. But were they? Dino reptiles? The answer is tricky.

Once upon a time, dinosaurs were the masters of the universe. Animals, a diverse group of creatures, lived on Earth more than 200 million years ago, long before the advent of humanity. They are classified as avian and non-avian. Avian dinosaurs flew in the sky, making them very distant cousins ​​to birds.

Scientific research has concluded that a meteor impact destroyed all types of dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

The animals were originally thought to be lethargic and cold-blooded simply because of their size and density. This is what connected them with reptiles. But updated research from the 1970s showed that dinosaurs were quite active and most likely warm-blooded. The animals were socially interactive and had an increased metabolism.

As recently as 2018, researchers discovered that some dinosaur species have fur and feathers, and it was a revelation. The theory refuted the long-standing belief that all dinosaurs were naked or scaly.

What is a dinosaur?

Paleontologists – scientists who studied life forms in previous geologic periods – recognize more than 1,000 non-avian dinosaur species, and these are far from all the giants as we imagine them. There were tiny, feathered insects that hunted and giants that weighed tons and grew up to 100 feet in length. There were also many prehistoric animals of all shapes and sizes in between. They all belong to the dinosaur family.

Dinosaurs had a unique appearance: horned, armored, domed, comb-shaped, long-necked, sickle-shaped. Both were peaceful vegetarians and flesh-ripping predators. The dinosaurs were quiet and noisy. They were terrestrial and amphibious. Scientists even found a swimmer who looked like a Velociraptor who moved with swan grace.

Science suggests that the flying dinosaur is the only animal to survive extinction. The idea is that the last dinosaurs turned into the birds that we are so comfortable with today!

Main features of Dinos Share

Here are some of the most common dinosaur traits – some associate them with reptiles and some don’t.

• An upright stance with legs perpendicular to the body is the main feature that distinguishes dinosaurs from most reptiles.
• Dinosaurs laid eggs like most reptiles.
• Dinosaurs lived on land, not at sea. The exception was a few penguin-like birds.
• Archosaurs have a hole in their skull that sits between the nostrils and the eye socket.
• There are two holes behind the dinosaur’s eye socket. The strong jaw muscles passed through the holes and attached directly to the skull. This allowed the jaws to open wide and clamp with extreme force.

What is a reptile?

Reptiles are cold-blooded vertebrates. No recorded reptile species has feathers or hair, only scales. While there are species that give birth to live young, most, like dinosaurs, lay eggs.

Reptiles were probably part of the dinosaur world. The earliest discovered reptiles living next to a dinosaur are 300 million years old.

Reptiles make up a huge family of creatures. Members of the reptile family include crocodiles, alligators, snakes, turtles, and lizards. There is also genetic evidence that birds – descendants of avian dinosaurs – are more closely related to crocodiles, more so than crocodiles are related to snakes, lizards or turtles.

All reptile species are scaled, have at least one lung, and usually have four legs. (Most people mistakenly believe that all dinosaurs have scales, but this is not the case.)

Reptiles are divided into four groups: turtles, crocodiles (alligators and crocodiles), squamates (snakes and lizards), and tuatara (lizards endemic to New Zealand).

Dinosaur vs reptiles

At one time, dinosaurs and reptiles shared land and sea. Birds are the forerunners of the avian dinosaur. Similarities include an S-shaped neck and three toes.

Dinosaur and reptile can be mistaken for the same species, and most media seem to give them strong physical similarities, but there are significant differences between the creatures.

The reptile’s legs extend along the sides of their torso, and the thigh bones are nearly parallel to the ground. They move from side to side. Dinosaurs stand with their feet straight underneath them, like most animals, including humans. The position of the hip joint allows the dinosaurs to stand upright. This pose allows dinosaurs to move faster than reptiles and show greater stamina.

Now, to dig deeper into the inconsistencies, you need to look at them from an evolutionary perspective. You can separate non-dinosaurs and dinosaurs with small details like the hind limbs of a dinosaur or facts like the Triceratops have more in common with a pigeon than with a reptile.

In other words, not all dinosaurs are birds, but virtually all birds are dinosaurs. In fact, the bird is the only dinosaur roaming the Earth today.

The term “dinosaur” is commonly seen as the name of a large, ancient group of creatures that no longer exist, and implies that all dinosaurs belong to the same family. Dinosaur is the term the scientific community uses to identify members of a long-extinct prehistoric group of animals.

Pop culture convinces us that dinosaurs and non-dinosaurs are mixed, but public opinion does not take into account the precise conclusion that dinosaurs were not the same species. It is also inappropriate to regard them all as reptiles.

There are ways to tell if what you see on TV is a real dinosaur. The features that these animals have in common revolve around the structure of the thighs and upper. This is what gives these beasts such a straight-legged stance. Examine the upper femur to see if it rotates inward to enter the hip joint during movement.

Another problem in distinguishing between dinosaurs is that conventional thinking relies on the idea that the past happened at the same time. This idea makes us blur the past as we move away from it. Concepts such as evolving dinosaurs living millions of years apart are not really part of general dinosaur knowledge.

We do not imagine that these animals change and evolve over millions of years. There is the sailing Dimetrodon, a proto-mammal closer to humans than a dinosaur. Ichthyosaurs swam in the seas. During the Mesozoic period, many reptile lines adapted to aquatic life. Popular pterosaurs in Jurassic Park the movies were just cousins ​​of the dinosaurs, but they weren’t really dinosaurs.

General history considers the ancestors of these ancient creatures as one family. In fact, like any other species, each member of the dinosaur clan is unique.

So … are dinosaurs reptiles?

According to the Natural History Museum, a large number of dinosaurs that have lived on Earth for nearly 160 million years are reptiles.

Like humans, they have developed the ability to survive in many ecosystems. It is said that the animals’ survival was influenced by their straight hind legs, which were located perpendicular to their torso. They could move faster and with less energy than other reptiles.

Dino are archosaurs, a large group of reptiles that arose over 250 million years ago. Non-dinosaur reptiles include archosaurs.

There are many types of reptiles that are mistakenly called dinosaurs. Marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, and mosasaurs do not belong to the dinosaur family, nor do members of the dimetrodon family.

Most of these animals were distinguished by the fact that they did not share the upright posture of the dinosaur.

So dinosaurs are reptiles, and interestingly, birds are dinosaurs. This would mean, one way or another, they are all unique, but related to reptiles.

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