Some dinosaurs were ambush hunters

The researchers are constantly finding new fossil remains of different dinosaur species, some extremely large while other small like today's pigeons. The latest interesting discovery comes from the Canadian-Chinese team of scientists that have found remains of the smaller dinosaur that hunted its prey like the cat does.

What this means is that these relatively small dinosaurs called Sinocalliopteryx (at 2.5m in length) used ambush hunting techniques we see at today's cats. Their very well preserved fossil remains were found in the Yixian Formation in the Jehol Provence of north east China.

The researchers were also able to extract from the remains of single Sinornithosaurus a feathered flying dinosaur, measuring about 1m and remains of two primitive crow-sized birds, called Confuciusorni, which gave them clear clue that Sinocalliopteryx ate flying creatures together with lizards, smaller dinosaurs, and mammals.

When hunting flying creatures this dinosaur first observe them somewhere in the underbrush waiting for the right moment before leaping swiftly into the air and catching a surprised bird mid-flight.

These cunning prehistoric hunters were very equipped predators with „long muscular legs and sharp chompers“.

Some scientists such as Prof Zhonghe Zhou, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences aren't entirely convinced into the guile and cunning of Sinocalliopteryx suggesting that these dinosaurs weren’t necessarily adept stealthy hunters but could also be some sort of scavengers.

One thing is sure though, prehistoric Jurassic park certainly had more than fair share of different dinosaur species.

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Were dinosaurs cold-blooded or warm-blooded animals?

The scientific community still argues on issue whether dinosaurs were cold-blooded or warm-blooded animals and now the latest research coming from the Australian scientists at the University of Adelaide has added further stir to this debate.

Professor Roger Seymour from the University of Adelaide believes that the answer to this issue may lie in fossil dinosaur bones.

Professor Seymour's main idea was to make the parallel between the humans and the dinosaurs. Human thigh bones have tiny holes - called "nutrient foramen" - on the shaft that supply blood to living bone cells inside. The scientists discovered that the size of these holes is related to the maximum rate that a person can be active during aerobic exercise and based on this Professor Seymour evaluated the activity levels of dinosaurs.

Cold-blooded creatures are less active, kind of sluggish, while warm-blooded creatures show increased level of activity.

By making this analogy between the nutrient foramens Seymour discovered that dinosaurs were in fact even more active than the mammals and this is the result which certainly wasn't expected.

This latest research therefore gives more credential to the theory that dinosaurs were warm-blooded and highly active creatures and will certainly open the door for even more lively discussions on this topic.

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Dinosaurs with four wings used to live in China

While there is almost an consent between scientists about transition from dinosaurs to birds, the actual process of transition still very much remains an enigma, and subject of different theories. This is mostly because of the lack of fossilized remains because majority of scientists agree that bird-like dinosaurs have appeared too late in the fossil record to be considered as the true ancestors of birds.

Perhaps fossilized remains of dinosaur with four wings that have recently been found in China could put some light on the mystery of transition process. In the Chinese province Liaoning exceptionally well-preserved fossil of Anchiornis huxleyi that dates to the earliest Late Jurassic has been found, and this are the oldest bird like dinosaur fossilized remains ever to be found.

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Interesting science facts - Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs were dominant creatures on Earth fore more than 160 million years (230 million years ago to 65 millions years ago).

Dinosaur is term coined from two Greek words, deinos meaning terrifying, and sauros meaning lizard. The term was coined by Sir Richard Owen, back in 1842.

The first dinosaur fossils were discovered in the beginning of the 19th century.

At the end of year 2008 there was 1047 different dinosaur species that have been named.

The longest complete dinosaur skeleton is the 27 m (89 ft) long Diplodocus, which was discovered in Wyoming in the United States and displayed in Pittsburgh's Carnegie Natural History Museum in 1907.

The smallest dinosaurs were roughly the same size as today's pigeons.

The biggest dinosaurs that once inhabited our planet were heavier than 120,000 kg (260,000 lb).

Many scientists agree that the asteroid collision theory is responsible for mass extinction of dinosaurs. According to this theory when an asteroid struck the Earth 65 million years ago, the resulting heat pulse wiped out in very short time all dinosaurs on the planet.

All dinosaurs lived on land as they were all land animals. Many people think wrong by putting flying pterosaurs or the swimming ichthyosaurs into dinosaurs category but they though closely related to dinosaurs are no dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs dominated our planet for 165 millions years, humans for instance have only been on our planet for about one million of years.

The biggest dinosaurs were the biggest land animals in history of our planet but not the biggest animals on Earth because for instance blue whales are much bigger than any known dinosaur species.

The infamous Tyrannosaurus rex was 40 feet (12.4 m) long, 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6 m) tall and weighing from 5 to 7 tons. First T-rex fossils were found by Barnum Brown in 1902.

Stegosaurus was big herbivore weighing about 6,800 pounds (3100 kg).

Triceratops was also herbivore. Triceratops in fact means "three horned face". Triceratops relied on their horns and quick charge when facing an enemy.

Not all dinosaurs lived in the same time, which is really no surprise when you look at their 160 million years long dominance on our planet. For instance Tyrannosaurus only appeared 80 million years ago after the extinction of stegosaurus.

Many dinosaur experts will tell you that diamonds are not extinct because birds are also dinosaurs based on features of their skeleton. The popular categorization is the one that describes extinct dinosaurs as "non-avian dinosaurs" and birds as "avian dinosaurs."

Most movies about dinosaurs are far from true. If you for instance look at Jurassic part you have T Rex that runs 50 mph, and the fastest dinosaurs could achieve speed of only 27 mph. And in most these movies dinosaurs are described much smarter than they actually are (their hunting technique, determination, etc.).

It is still very difficult for scientists to figure out how the dinosaurs sounded, how they behaved, how they mated, what color they were, or even how to tell whether a fossilized remains belong to male or female dinosaur.

Some dinosaurs has ability to walk either on two legs, or on four legs though majority walked either on two legs or on four legs.

The oldest known dinosaur is called Eoraptor; this dinosaur was meat-eater and lived about 228 million years ago.

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