What actually is a dinosaur?
We all probably have a pretty good image of what a dinosaur should be: big, scales, teeth, tendency to not adhere to theme park regulations.
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Dinosaurs could be small, much smaller than a human, through to the titan sauropods that are measured in buses. Also, some dinosaurs had feathers and beaks.
In general, a dinosaur lives during the Mesozoic era (started about 250 million years ago) and they must have either lizard or bird like hips and live on land.
That means creatures like Pteordactyl, although from a similar time are actually pterosaurs, not technically a dinosaur.
Also, it is a misconception that dinosaurs are the ‘terrible lizards’ that their name means. Our new exhibition shows a new side to their family lives, how they hatched their eggs and raised their young. You still wouldn’t cross a Tarbosaurus though…
We had a look at the dinosaur models in our Natural History Gallery as a starting point…
Stegosaurus
A family favourite, this herbivore lived about 150 million years ago in the Jurassic period. The spikey tail could have been used as a defense against attacking carnivores, and the spines along the back may have acted as defensive armour, or helped a stegosaurus manage it’s body temperature.
Despite looking pretty formidable, stegosurus had a very small brain to body ratio meaning whilst it may have been good in a fight, it probably couldn’t complete a sudoku.
Scolosaurus
Another defense heavy dino, but is far more recent than stegosaurus, being about 75 million years old. Scolosaurus remains are found across North America where it would have frolicked in a lush environment, with soil kept fertile by occasional volcanic activity.
Triceratops
A Cretaceous dinosaur, triceratops lived about 68 million years ago. Triceratops has a distinctive neck frill and three horns making it quite a recognizable specimen. These may have been used as defences but the discovery of blood vessels in the frill suggest they may have been able to flush them with blood and make vivid courtship displays.
Scelidosaurus
Scelidosaurus is one of the earliest complete dinosaur finds, and fossils have been found in the UK down in Dorset. Perhaps our small model doesn’t do this dinosaur justice, they would have grown to about 4 metres long with a series of plate like armour running along it’s body.
This is just a brief glimpse at the dinosaurs in our collection but you can see their largest counterparts in our Dinosaurs: Monster Families exhibition, which runs until 30 October 2016, as well as a discovery pit and the chance to touch a real dinosaur leg bone.
Tickets are on sale online now, with members enjoying free and unlimited visits to the exhibition.
This piece was first published on the Horniman Museum and Gardens website.
