Dinosaur videos — visualizing the terrifying lizards

We know a lot about dinosaurs, but it’s like no matter what we do, it’s the images from the old Jurassic Park that come to mind. Even though science has advanced, even though we know that many of those images were almost certainly wrong, if you ask most people how a dinosaur looked like and acted — they’ll probably come up with something like in Jurassic Park. So let’s break those preconceived ideas, let’s brush up our dinosaur science, and let’s watch some dinosaur videos!

How T-Rex ran

https://vimeo.com/2933267

Paleontologist John Hutchinson uses computer simulations and the study of living animals with similarities to the Tyrannosaurus Rex, to see how and how fast the creature might have run. It’s a difficult task since muscles don’t preserve through fossilization so he has to rely mostly on bones. However, the sheer amount of information he was able to deduct is impressive — we now have a pretty good idea about how the beast ran, over 60 million years ago.

So, was it anything like Jurassic Park? You’ll have to watch the video to find out (at the moment, not available for embed).

Near perfectly preserved dinosaur fossil found

It’s not every day that you find a fossil so incredibly well preserved — it looks like a statue of a dinosaur more than anything. Still, 110 million-year-old type of plant-eating armored dinosaur was more like a tank than a statue. It couldn’t be more different from a T-Rex, and yet it looks just as impressive.

David Attenborough and the biggest dinosaur ever — enhanced reality, 360 degrees

It would be a shame to make videos related to animals and not include David Attenborough. But to miss out on this video masterpiece would outright be a crime. I’ll let David Attenborough do the talking, just to be sure to check the video’s 360 feature — you can look around and explore the world.

How we know what dinosaurs looked like

I know it’s hard, but let’s step back from the animated awesomeness above and look at a bit of science. How do we know what dinosaurs looked like? I mean, looking at a skeleton can only tell you so much, and why do we find the skeleton in the first place? This is just a short, basic discussion. Nothing too detailed. We’ll get to that in a moment.

Building a dinosaur from a chicken

Renowned paleontologist Jack Horner has dedicated most of his prestigious career to reconstructing dinosaurs. In this TED talk, you’ll get a lot of insight into the mind of a paleontologist. You’ll see what he looks after, what he wants to accomplish, how he does it, and perhaps most importantly — why he loves dinosaurs so much.

Visiting a museum

If your curiosity hasn’t been spurred so far, then you might just not like dinosaurs, which is unacceptable completely fine. But let’s face it, if you’ve made it this far and at least had a look at the dinosaur videos, you’re probably quite into it. What I hope this video will do is incite you even more, and convince you to go out and visit a museum! Sure, some museums are nicer than others and not all have cool dinosaur fossils, but at the very least, most natural history museums have some sort of fossils — and many of them have dinosaurs. If you look at this relatively small, campus museum from the University of Birmingham, there’s so much to see and learn it’s amazing. Besides, you’ll get a completely different feel for the scale and physical characteristics of dinosaurs if they’re sitting in front of you.

Dinosaur documentaries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuet3t9geXo

If you want all that sweet dinosaur info without ever leaving the house, don’t worry. The internet is full of documentaries you can watch at your own convenience. I’m sharing just one of the many, so you can get a feel for what you can expect.

An important mention — not all documentaries have the same quality, and some are downright questionable. It’s hard to tell how reliable a documentary is, especially if you don’t have any experience, so try looking at solid tells. For instance, check if there are real scientists involved, check if it’s based on peer review science. Have a quick Google search and check the background of the people involved. At the very least, you’ll open up a new avenue to learn new things.

What killed the dinosaurs?

After an impressive run, after tens of millions of years of dominating the Earth, the time of the dinosaurs came to an abrupt end at the massive extinction event that marked the end of the Mesozoic. So what killed the dinosaurs? You might be tempted to say “Oh I know this one, it’s the asteroid!” Well, that’s definitely a key puzzle piece, but the science is more complicated than you’d be tempted to think. Watch the video to see just what we know about the dinosaurs’ extinction.

But hey, the dinosaurs’ history didn’t really end there!

How dinosaurs evolved into birds

You might hear people say that dinosaurs are the ancestors of birds — and that’s only half true. Birds actually are dinosaurs. Some dinosaurs shrank, grew feathers, and took to the skies. But I don’t want to spoil too much, this video tells the full story.

BONUS!!!

Apparently, there are some people who believe dinosaurs weren’t real. The internet is teeming with conspiracy videos, you know the likes — the crowd that doesn’t believe in evolution, that says the Earth is flat, and so on. I’m not even gonna dignify them by sharing one of their videos. What I will do is share a video of a paleontologist getting really mad at watching one of those videos, and more importantly, debunking it bit by bit. Well played, kind sir. Well played!