Hi, Robert. I'll admit, you're probably smarter than me. I support D. torosus evolving to T. rex, I've read about the transitional form too. I'm not so sure about the Stegoceras to Pachycephalosaurus, mainly because I'm not sure about the exact age of each genus. Maybe. The coelophysid feather, I highly doubt! Sorry, but Dilophosaurus is not form Montana, its from Arizona. Montana doesn't have any Early Jurassic fossils, Dilopho's age, its Late Jurassic, Early Cretaceous, and Late Cretaceous. Deinonychus is an eight-foot-long, Montana theropod that is more advanced than Dilophosaurus, and could have left the feather. If you can give more evidence for Dilopho and some evidence against Deinony, I'll consider it. I've never seen Customizing the Velociraptor. If it is a web page, give me a link, please! Biggest, Baddest etc. sounds vaguely familiar, but I'm not sure where, when or how. Lastly, 'avilain' is not a term I've ever used before. W! hat is the difference between Avilae and Maniraptora? Is Maniraptora a combination of Avilae + Dromaeosauridae? Are Sinosauropteryx, Caudipteryx and Protarchaeopteryx avilains? Is Archaeopteryx avilain? Help me. I link Troodon to Ornithomimidae in Bullatosauria, which goes with Tyrannosauridae to make Arctometarsalia. Is this right? Help me with coelurosaurs, Robert!
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 31, 2000

Brad,I forgot to mention the feather from Montana possibly belonging to an 8 ft. tall Ceolophysid...the only match is Dilophosaurus (see Costomizing a Velociraptor).Read Dinosaurs the biggest,baddest etc. for G.carolinii being a scalvenger. Bambiraptor was the smartest avilain Dinosaur (the birds and most bird-like dinosaurs),not the smartest non-avilian,which is Troodon.Bambiraptor may be a avian avilain(because its so smart).
from Robert S., age 9, Lawrenceville, G.A., U.S.A.; May 31, 2000

Brad, in answer to the May 2 entry you made about the test to find out how old bones are, it's called Carbon-14 dating. This is a bit out of date, but my messages almost always are.
from Neil M., age 10, Toronto, Ontario, ?; May 30, 2000

The half-life of carbon-14 is 5,568 years; this is too short a half-life to date dinosaurs. C-14 dating is useful for dating items up to about 50,000 - 60,000 years ago (useful for dating organiams like Neanderthal man and ice age animals). Uranium-235 (which has a half-life of about 700 million years) is used for older sediment, like those from the Mesozoic Era. JC

D.torosus(a.k.a. Daspletosaurus) evolved into T.rex. Transitional fossils have been found. In this case it took 5 million years. Each time it grew larger,and made more adaptions,until it was an 18 foot T.rex. Same for Stegoceras to Pachycephalosaurus.
from Robert S., age 9, Lawrenceville, G.A., U.S.A.; May 30, 2000

Gee Brad, you really know a lot about dinosaurs! Did you see Disney's new movie " Dinosaur" yet? I like the part when that big meteor hits the Earth. Anyway, since you know so much about dinosaurs, once you're done with my first qustion, I've goy another one. Could scientists really clone dinosaurs or any other prehestoric creatures?
from Phillip S., age 10, Sterling, Illinois, United States; May 28, 2000

Thank you, Phillip. I admit that I don't know what dinosaurs really looked like. I saw Dinosaur the day after it opened. I though the meteor shower looked more like a big fireworks show than an actualt natural disaster. And didn't nearly all of the lemurs die in that scene? Every other scene was good. I especially liked the opening sequence since it was probably the most true to science, showed a lot of dinosaurs, and had a cool effect where it felt like the seat was moving (when the pterosaur flew). I actually own an entire book that is entirely about the possibility of cloning dinosaurs, so I find it difficult to sum it up in a paragraph. I would say maybe, with a lot of luck.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 29, 2000

I like the skeleton of a trex
from daniel, age 6, widnes, ?, england; May 28, 2000

I really like dinosaurs! I like them because it's cool to think big wild animals, who hunted, ate, swam, breathed, lived, and died on the same ground we walk on every day. I wish that in a swamp or in a jungle somewhere they were still alive. But, I've been wondering, what did dinosaurs really look like?
from Phillip S., age 10, Sterling, Illinois, United States; May 27, 2000

Hi, Pierson. The large predatory form in Disney's Dinosaur is the Carnotaurus. It was smaller than T. rex, but infinately cooler looking. Carnotaurs were 25-30 feet long, while rexes were about 40 feet.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 27, 2000

How do you put the dinosaurs togather
from anthony, age 6, gettysborg, penn, usa; May 27, 2000

Hi, Anthony. If you are assembling a dinosaur of your own, then look for instructions on the box or included on a piece of paper. If you are wondering how palaeontologists put together dinosaurs, there are a few ways they work. They have to identify the bones first, and figure out which body part they were. This is done by comparing them to the bones of living animals. If they are lucky, a palaeontologist will find a skeleton that is already in good enough shape to put together. But there are usually missing parts. If they bones are from a known species, then they use more complete specimens of the same species to make casts and fill in the gaps. If its an unknown species, then they look at related species and have a sculptor make the bones they way the would likely have been.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 27, 2000

Dinosaurs will live on at MCdonalds! After the Disney Dinosaur promotion (aprox. June 13), McDonalds will distibute three Beanie Baby dinosaurs. They will not be part of the happy meals, but will be sold separetely. There will be Happy Meal Beanie Babies too, but they will be ladybugs and fish and stuff. The three Beanie dinosaurs will be a Stegosaurus, a Tyrannosaurus, and a 'Brontosaurus'. They will sell out fast, since the larger Beanie Baby versions of this trio is in the $1000 range. See if you can catch them!
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 25, 2000

Ooh! I missed dinosaurs in and out on national geographic, I feel really upset that I missed it to since its really interesting.. and was about the some big dinosaur feast when a herd of diplodocus got stuck in the mud and a lot of allosaurus attacked them, can't remember the location tho..anyways it was very interesting or was it on Jurassica.. Ooh! and I saw sue the large T-Rex..
from Sharon, age 23, Manchester, Dunno, England; May 24, 2000

Does Allosaurus have 3 claws or 4 claws?
from Raveena L, age 8, Cedar Grove, N J, U.S.A; May 24, 2000

Hi, Raveena. Allosaurus had three fingers on each forefoot, and four toes on each hindfoot. I am pretty sure all of its digits had claws. Relatives of Allosaurus are Yangchuanosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, and Giganotosaurus.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 25, 2000

Does Allosaurus have other relitives?
from Raveena L, age 8, Cedar Grove, NJ, U.S.A.; May 24, 2000

hi cohnzie!! this is the best place for Dino info I should know I`m a tyrunna.................ttyrauhhhhhhhh.....................
from Kelsie L. M, age 9, Waterford, C.T, U.S.A; May 24, 2000

britteny spears loves dinos
from maddy p., age 23, london, england, europe; May 24, 2000

I hadn't heard that before, Maddy. That's really interesting. Where did you learn it from? I will listen to Britney Spears music more carefully now to see if any of her lyrics are possibly about dinosaurs. I kind of doubt I'll find anything, but you can interperet a lot out of nothing when you really try.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 24, 2000

I realy like this can you give me a pictuer of you? t
from alex b., age 13, Indianapolis, Indiana, ?; May 23, 2000
No, I don't have any online. JC

Ooh! I read this site was for kids, does that mean I need to find an adult dinosaur site as I'm just learning about dinosaurs and this is the best site I found. Hope I'm still welcome to post here after all I'm still just a big kid..lol.. ?
from Sharon, age 23, Manchester, Dunno, England; May 22, 2000

Wow, Brad you know so much about dinosaurs, I am still learning about dinosaurs I can barley remember all there names theres so many different kinds this site has the most information I've seen, my favourite dinosaur is the diplodocus, thanks for answering my last question
from Sharon, age 23, Manchester, Dunno, England; May 22, 2000

Thank you, Sharon. My main reccomendaion is to read books if you want to learn about dinosaurs. It took some searching, but I did eventually find the adult dinosaur book shelf in a book store, and they are awesome. They should be on the Biology shelf. They are expensive though. The biggest dinosaur website is www.dinosauricon.com, which has every dinosaur on it. So does www.dinodata.net. Both have good image galleries, and the DinoData site has news (which I haven't checked recently, I better be going!) There are lots of other dinosaur sites, but very few message boards. Keep using this site, you will always be welcome.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 23, 2000

how fast was t.rex?I love dinosaurs alot.trex may not have been the big guy during the dionosaurs time.a new long neck named ultrasaurs is alot bigger than him.
from jason h, age 12, new kent, va, usa; May 22, 2000

Tough question, Jason. Some people have said that T. rex ran 40 mph, and some people have said it didn't run at all! 25 mph is reasonable as a top speed for T. rex. That is faster than a person. Ultrasauros was much bigger than Tyrannosaurus, but it was never around at the same time. It was actually found in the late 1970s, and was informally referred to as "Ultrasauus" with quote marks for about a dozen years. In 1985 a smaller sauropod accidentally became the type specimen of Ultrasaurus (probably bigger than T. rex though, as almost all sauropods are) so the famous ultrasaur became Ultrasauros in the early 1990s. It appeared by its scientific names in a few books up until 1997. Most of the top dinosaur sites, this one being an exception, now have Ultrasauros as an invalid name, since it is supposedly a SupersaurusBrachiosaurus combination of bones.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 23, 2000

I went to MCdonalds on Saturday, so I have two of the dinosaur toys. It appears that the hand puppets will be first, followed by the talking figures. The puppets are made of a very strong-smelling material. The first toy in the series is the Aladar puppet. It is a cute, comical looking dinosaur, but should not be called lifelike. Most oddly, his teeth seem to be modeled after human molars, not iguana teeth. Also, I do not think the Iguanodon had forward facing eyes, which Aladar has. His blue and peach colour scheme is not the greatest. Aladar is still a nice character though, despite his slight inaccuracies. The second toy, the Carnotaur, does look pretty lifelike, as it does in the movie. Actually, its downright scary. He's grey and red with little yellow eyes, and with lots of litle spikes and big horns. It's a much larger, tougher carnotaur than the carnotaur from the lost world finger puppet collection (which I own one set of), and co! uld probably beat up most Lost world toys if I gave it the chance. I can also tell you the other toys that were displayed. The other two finger puppets are two of the other Iguanodons, Neera and Krone (oficially Kron, though Krone is truer to the pronunciation used in the film). The three dinosaur action figures are the Brachiosaurus, Baylene, the Styracosaurus, Eema, and another Iguanodon, Bruton. Plus the lemurs, which is four lemurs connected into a single lemur family figurine. I expect the Dinosaur promotion to end on or shortly before June 16, the official start of the Beanie Babies promotion.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 22, 2000

i am creating lesson plans for my preschool class to prepare them for a trip to our dinosaur park. What do you think 3-6 year olds would want to know? And where can I find more information. I loved dinosaurs when I was a kid, but that was many, many years ago. any help will be very appreciaited. thanks!!!
from miss jenn, age too old, ?, ut, usa; May 21, 2000
We have dinosaur printouts to color. There are other actiities for young children.

Good idea, Miss Jenn. What type of park is this? I assume it is not cloned dinosaurs, but is it a model/robot exhibition, or a fossil site? I was informed about dinosaurs in grade two, when I was about 7. It was fun, but awful scientificly. The best advice is to keep little kids away from out-dated information. I was taught that Stegosaurus had two brains, and the Brachiosaurus could only survive in deep water, neither of which is true. I would teach them about the new record-setters, Seismosaurus (longest) and Argentinosaurus (heaviest), the new biggest meat-eater, Giganotosaurus, and other up-to date stuff. Try to find impressive facts like how much food large sauropods ate, and create a modern comparison that relates to the children. When discussing the size of dinosaurs, we measured across our classroom to see how it related to a Stegosauurs. And put in some old favourites, like Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops. Kids love those. If you w! ant to know what 3-6 year olds find so great about dinosaurs, just go to the vote for your favourite dinosaur section of www.ZoomDinosaurs.com and read what people that age write in.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 22, 2000

I got two new dinosaur books yesterday. The Children's Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs (Consultant: Professor Michael J. Benton, 2000) is a great deal better than its title sounds. I found this 95 page hardcover book for $9.99, making it less expensive than similar books. Its a pretty typical dinosaur reference book for kids. The age, size, classification, location and pronunciation of each dinosaur is given, as well as a paragraph about its anatomy, discovery, or possible behavior. There are over 100 different dinosaurs, plus the mammal-like reptiles, plus the prehistoric turtles, plus prehistoric lizards, plesiosaurs, icthyosaurs, early archosaurs, prehistoric crocodiles, pterosaurs... they squeezed a lot of information into this book. I even found the "new" dinosaurs like Scipionyx, Siamotyrannus, Suchomimus, and Protohadros that aren't included in most other books. There are over 250 full colour images, many of them illustrations by Steve Kirk.! Overall, this is a very nice book. Two claws up! More reviews to come...
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 21, 2000

How smart was the Giganotosaurus?
from Geoffrey P, Fort Worth, Texas, USA; May 21, 2000; May 21, 2000

Its hard to tell, Geoffrey. THe Giganotosaurus had a brain half the size of a T. rex's brain. I think it has been described as the size and shape of a banana. Giganotosaurus could certainly outwit an Argentinosaurus though.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 21, 2000

by the way , Brad, are you going to see the dinosaur movie tonight? or did you already see it? I would like to know about how good it is because I might want to take my little sister to see it. Thanks!
from Jen, age 14, ??, NC, US; May 21, 2000

Hi, Jen! I saw the Dinosaur movie yesterday (saturday). Yes, it is a good movie. It is definately one to see in theatres. When the cameras move, it feels like the seats are moving. Its a very cool effect.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 21, 2000

Hi to everyone! This website is really cool and helped me with my project thanxs for the help and I will recomend it to all my mates!!!!! Charlotte
from Charlotte, age 14, Chale, Isle Of Wight, England; May 21, 2000

I just wanted to say that I was passing this site and decided t read the messages. I am really amazed with how much you guys know about dinosaurs. Especially Brad. I am only on this site because I have a project due for my science teacher this coming Wednesday. I am reaserching the following dinosaurs: Oviraptor, Cerotasaurus, and Pteradactylus. If anyone has any idea where I can get detailed pictures from I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks! I will check back for any answers later. Thanks again!
from Jen, age 14, ???, ???, US; May 19, 2000

Thank you, Jen. Be careful with the Oviraptor. I must warn you that most of our ideas on this dinosaur were recently flipped around, and to only use books coming form the later half of the 1990s. Just keep in mind, it was sitting over its own eggs, not stealing those of a Protoceratops! Maybe you already knew that. I don't have much to say about Ceratosaurus or Pterodactylus, you should be okay with them. The best way to get illustrations is to draw them! That way, they can look exactly the way you want, and they won't be plagarism! My teachers talk about plagarism all the time. You'll probably get better marks too. If you really can't draw, try www.dinosauricon.com. There is lots of art there. Good luck!
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 19, 2000

thanks for the help. Yes I did know that Oviraptor was sitting on it's own eggs. I think it's name is innapropriate but I got stuck doing that dinosaur. I will check the address and get back...thanks!
from Jen, age 14, ??, NC, US; May 21, 2000

I would find it very interesting to talk to someone aobut dinosaurs. Is there a chat room on this site? If not there should be, for live questions and answers. If there is, how do I get to it???Thanks!!!
from Jen, age 14, ??, NC, US; May 19, 2000

Not much dinosaurish happened to me today. My mom bought a newspaper with some dinosaur movie pictures in it, and they are so cool I'm going to use them a posters. I am going to the movie tomorrow. I have read many reviews of this movie, and there are so many diffent feelings. It is pretty much agreed upon that the visual side is great though. I can't wait to hear what all of the dinosaur's voices are like, the only one that talks in the tv commercial is Aladar. I wonder what the raptors will be like. From my limited understanding, they will play the role that the hyenas did the lion king- a lesser predator that does little more than tell jokes. I do kind of question this though, since it has been called a humourless movie. I'll definately be talking more about the movie tomorrow night, although I promise not to give anything away.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 19, 2000

Hey Guys. I just came to this site and well I'm kind of myterious. Well Dinosaur Jack isn't my real name. But here's some hints. My dad's a paleontologist and I've been on some of his expiditions. THAT MEANS I've seen real dino bones in person. My dad's a real expert. It's pretty cool.
from Dinosaur Jack, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 19, 2000

That is so cool, Dinosaur Jack! I really don't know a lot about the families of palaeontologists. Are you by any chance Jason H.? I know he's been on his dad's expeditions. I'm waiting for the next clue.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 19, 2000

I'm totally facinated with dinosaurs, I heard a Velociraptor was only half the size of the ones that appeared in Jurassic park is this true ? Ooh! I feel to old to be posting on here somehow.. anyway hope you can answer my question.
from Sharon B, age 23, Manchester, Urm ?, England; May 18, 2000

Yes, its true, Sharon. The real Velociraptor was relatively small dinosaur that weighed about 30 pounds and was only 6 feet long. Other problems with the movie 'raptors are that the tails lack stiffening rods (watch them whip around), their hands are incorrect, they weren't really cheetah-fast or chimp-smart, and they don't have feathers (but that is probably the result of them being mixed with snake DNA or something, in my opinion).
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 19, 2000

On this site, Longneck is treated as an informal name for Apatosaurus. But is that Littlefoot guy really an Apatosaurus? I think he has Camarasaurus features myself. The Land Before Time is quite a challenge for people who want to identify the dinos. The litlte fellow Chomper has three fingers, and looks like a Carcharodontosaurus. But his "parents" have two fingers, looking like Tyrannosaurus. Perhaps its just better to sit back and enjoy the stories. There may also be problems with disney's Dinosaur. From the pics I've seen, the character Kron looks like an Altirhinus (with the big nasal crest), but his "sister" is an Iguanodon (mantelli?). Its still going to be good.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 18, 2000

I produced two great dinosaur paintings today! We had art class, and we were painting flowers on felt. I made some violets with a Velociraptor hiding behind them! I am especially proud of the blending I did between the white, yellow, and red of the raptor's neck. The fuzz of the felt suggests protofeathers, without having to apply ugly, oversized plumage intentionally. This is not the JP raptor, btw, but the slender-snouted, dog-sized dinosaur of the fossil record. I'm not sure if violets were present in the Cretaceous, but there were likey some sort of small, blue flowers that raptors occasionally hid in. My second piece of art was to do the Einiosaurus painting, which I did in the evening. It is also very good. I like the background trees and lighting the most, since they are the best I've ever done. The einiosaur turned out grey, but it is still cool, with black horns. I will be entering it in a contest, and compared to the previous win! ner, I think I have a chance. Do any of you draw dinosaurs? Tell me about your latest works!
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 18, 2000

No Brad, you are all mixed up. Its Tyrannosaurus thats42 feet long (40 is an approximation.Carcharodontosaurus was 46 feet long.
from Robert S., age 9, Lawerenceville, G.A., U.S.A.; May 18, 2000

No, Robert. Sue, a big T. rex, is 41 feet (National Geographic, Jun. 2000). I think some males weren't even 40 feet. 42 is possible, but not typical for T. rex. I'm keeping 40 feet for T. rex. Carcharodontosaurus is known from a skull, 5 feet, 3 inches long, but we don't know how long its body was. 46 feet is an upper estimate though. Reporters for magazines, televison and newspapers are tempted to exaggerate in order to impress the public. Books do usually say lower, or admit that it is unknown. We are still pretty close in our beliefs, so there is no real reason to argue. If you know the name of the 42-foot rex, tell me.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 18, 2000

what kind of animal do fly?
from melissa w, age 12, haverhill, Mass, ?; May 18, 2000

Not dinosaurs, Melissa. Flying animals include insects, pterosaurs, birds, and bats.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 18, 2000

I saw the McDonalds dinosaur toys on tv! A family are eating at McDonalds, and they have some of the toys. The boy puts a lemur figurine on his sister, who tells him ot take it off of her. He then puts it on a ceratopsian (pachyrhinosaur, perhaps?) action figure, and hears a phrase from the movie. Pretty high-tech from McDonalds, I'd say. You then see the complete collection of four dinosaur head puppets (which I am pretty sure includes Carnotaurus), three dinosaur action figures (the ceratopsian, brontosaur (Alamosaurus?), and one I didn't catch), and the lemur family figure.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 18, 2000

You can find plenty of dinosaur info in books
from Jonathon, age 10, Hillside, Ill, North America; May 18, 2000

Absolutely, Jonathon. My library teacher has warned our class numerous times, mostly unnescessarily, that the internet contains lots of inaccurate stuff, so I do like seeing the new dinosaurs in books. The interent is still great to communicate about dinosaurs, though!
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 18, 2000

can a t.rex able to kill an apatasaurs?
from Jessica, age 10, dumont, new jersey, united states of amarica; May 17, 2000

Not a chance, Jessica, for the same reason that you cannot kill an Apatosaurus- Apatosaurus was already extinct before the T. rex ever existed.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 17, 2000

I just finished my pencil drawing of Einiosaurus. The einiosaur in the foreground is using his horn to scrape the bark off a tree and is also chewing on some bark. There are many bent and falling trunks in the background, evidence that dinosaurs have came crashing through. There are amber beads with mosquitoes on one of the trees. In the background, you can see sunlight penetrating through the canopy of the forest, and the shape of another einiosaur pushing a tree trunk with his beak. I realy like this scene, and I want to make a painting of it. Any suggestions for the einiosaurs' skin colour?
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 17, 2000

I just won't to say this is a wonderfull program. I really know alot about dinosaurs.
from Jenica E., age 10, Fort Collins, Co., U.S.A; May 17, 2000

What was the name of the oldest dino?
from Kristi T., age 12, Brookport, Illinois, North America; May 17, 2000

I'm not sure Kristi. Those Madagascar prosauropods are often said ot be oldest now, and they are nameless. However, these forms did not occur in radioactive-type rock, and cannot be dated with accuracy. the 235-230 million years old is an estimate based on the general primitiveness of other animals at the site, but who really knows? Maybe Madagascar was sort of a lost world where primitive life forms existed 10 or 20 million years after they disappaered elsewhere. However, having mTr anchisaurs, and Pisanosaurus as a possible heterodontosaurus is great for Bakker's Phytodinosauria, so I hope this does turn out the way it seems. But to get back on track, its Eoraptor, dated at 228 my old using volcanic ash from the site.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 17, 2000

Hello,I was wondering how long did the homalocephale live????
from Christen G., age 13, ??, IL, USA; May 17, 2000

I have no idea, Christen. Homalocephale was maybe a few hundred pounds, and lifespan is said to be roughly related to age, though I myself kind of doubt this. I do know a dinosaur website that can calculate lifespan from mass, so I'll try it for you.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 17, 2000

Okay, Christen. First, I calculated the weight of Homalocephale between 200 and 385 kilograms. That's about 440 to 840 pounds, about right for a 10-foot long herbivore with a huge flared gut for digesting a lot of plants. The life span is about 40-50 years, although the actual range I got was 20-80. You also had to choose mammal-like or bird-like phisiology. I choose to lean towards mammal-like, since the lifestlye of Homalocephale is presumed to be like that of sheep or goats.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 17, 2000

Sorry Christen, but I way overestimated the weight of Homalocephale. I believe I used the length of the femur instead of the circumference (I used the number 218 mm, 21.8 cm- yeah, its probably length)- that would probably do it. Anyway, the Pachycephalosauria website has it at 26 kilograms (a mere 57 pounds) and 2 metres long. I used that number instead, and calculated 16 - 33 year lifespan. That does sound more reasonable, since most animals don't live long compared to people.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 17, 2000

Hey ya'll. I don't know you Brad but answer me this. I have some complaints. Charcharodontosaurus, wasn;t he smaller then T-rex. I mean I've seen magazines with him stated to be larger than Rex but in some books I own it says Charchar was smaller. I'm having a breakdown about this. And since I've been reading and you seem to know alot I'll ask you. And Seismosaurus WAS 52m long and Supersaurus wasn't that long. Help me out on that if you can. Thank you and this is good bye from Dinosaur Jack.
from Dinosaur Jack, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 16, 2000

Hi, Dinosaur Jack. Your complaints are certainly reasonable. The first Carcharodontosaurus fossils were collected in the 1930s, I think, and were pretty fragmentary, just some odd teeth and bones. They were from an animal about 26-33 feet long, right? Around there. The magazines are referring to a 1996ish discovery of a skull about 5.5 feet long, from an animal about 42 feet long. A little bigger than a rex. I don't think there has been any arguments over whether the skull belongs to the smae species as the type specimen, since this animal was named for its distinctive teeth, after all. Carcharodontosaurus just a big size range, it seems. And both Seismosaurus and Supersaurus are too poorly known to give an accurate length. Seismosaurus is known form only its back end, and Supersaurus is known from... uh, I forget. I'd get my books but my sister will be bugging me shortly to get off of this site. Anyway, they're both about 120 - 150 feet.! 52 metres is like 170 feet, which is about the upper size estimate of both of these animals.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 17, 2000

Nice to hear from you again, Robert. Those are some pretty big theories, but that's what this place is all about, isn't it? Let's see if I agree with you. Giganotosaurus teeth were described in National Geographic (Dec97) as being perfect for slicing up flesh and making animals lose a lot of blood- not really an adaptation a scavenger would need. but if Argentinosaurus died, Giganotosaurus would be pretty stupid not to scavenge. Feathers, feathers. The only one I'm in definate agreement with is Utahraptor, and even that one I'm sort of ... uh, not fond of. I just can't see a 1000-pound raptor with bright, elaborate plumage, although protofeathers are a maybe. In my mind, birds and raptors spilt before true feathers, the raptors retaining protofeathers. I regard Dilophosaurus as too primitive to have any feathers, mean, its a ceratosaur. Megaraptor, even as a coelurosaur, would not have to be feathered. Albertosaurus was a coelurosaur of a! bout the same size, and it was not feathered. Megaraptor could possibly have resembled an ornithomimid, except ornithomimids have very lightly built feet and I'm not sure if they could use their claws in that way. Babmiraptor Rahonavis link? Yes, i'd agree with that, but partially because I know very little about either of them. You seem to know a lot, so maybe you know something I missed her. Over all though, some good new theories have been made. Well done!
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 16, 2000

Giganotosaurus was a scalvenger.Dilohosaurus,Utahraptor,and Megaraptor had feathers.Megaraptor resembled Ornithomimids. Bambiraptor was related to Rahonavis and was the smartest Dinosaur.
from Robert S., age 9, Lawrenceville, G.A., U.S.A.; May 16, 2000

I understand about the e-mail, and I'm okay with it since we can just say it here anyway. But what about home page adresses- is that okay? Jay the Dino Master is making one, and I will be writing some of the content. It will be a dinosaur site. Can we post the adress here when we're done?
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 16, 2000

Yes, if you have your own website, you can put your URL online. JC

Hi, Jay the Dino Master! Welcome to Dino Talk! Is being a dino master like being a pokemon master? That would be kind of cool, collecting little dinosaurs and battling them... oh, I actually do that. Remember to share all of your crazy theories we used to talk about, and any new ones you might have! I hope you get lots of replies! :)
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 16, 2000

can some one help me learn about dinsaurs
from lizzie f, age 9, manchester, chesire, england; May 16, 2000

I could, Lizzie. Just tell me which dinosaur type or dinosaur issue you want to learn about, and I'll try to tell you facts about it.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 16, 2000

Hey, nobody knows more about dinosaurs than me. E-mail me at xxx and I'll tell you all you need to know about the Dinosaur.
from Dinosaur Jack, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 15, 2000

Sorry, I can't put people's e-mail addresses online. JC

Hey Everyone I'm the real dino master I go to school with brad any questions comments ask away!!:->
from Jay The Dino Master, age 13, Woodville, Ontario, Canada; May 15, 2000

Is there girl dinosaur
from AUSTIN, age 8, PORT CHARLOTTE, FL, US; May 15, 2000

Of course there were girl dinosaurs, Austin! And boys too, since nature and Jurassic Park are entirely diffent things. Every dinosaur species had male and female members, and some fossils seem to show the differences between the boys and the girls. Female Parasauralophus have larger bodies and smaller crests than the males, female Chasmosaurus have shorter brow horns, since they didn't fight each other, and female Stegoceras (dinosaur of the week, as I was just told) have less of a dome than the males. Most dinosaur names are masculine, but Maiasaura, Leaellynasaura and Gasparinisaura have all been given feminine names.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 16, 2000

Run to the news stand, Daniel! There is one magazine, Discovery, I think, that has an artilce on New Zealand dinos, and its out now! I didn't buy it, since I'm saving up for the book "The Complete Dinosaur" ($83!), but it looks good. There's a big theropod, a mosasaur, and some others.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 15, 2000

Hi, you said that u didnt know alot about the donosaur, Cryptoclidus oor any other Plesiosaurias. Do u know anyone who does???? Oh, by the way, my teacher recamended this site!!
from shelly, age 12, ?, ?, USA; May 15, 2000

This is a chatroom in which kids talk to each other. I generally don't interfere, but for information on Cryptoclidus, click here. JC

Sorry to be picky, but do you know absolutly anything more about them???But thanks for putting that up anyway!!!!! Who runs this Dino Talk, JC or Brad???? Because brad answers all the questions.If YOU need more info about them, I can give you some, i think i have enough info. THANKZ!!!!
from shelly, age 12, ?, ?, usa; May 17, 2000

This is a chat room, where any one can write in about anything - I just put the comments online. We don't answers people's questions here, other kids do. We have a Question and Answer page in which I answer questions. JC

How many dinosaurs where there in New Zealnd and were they better than other dinosaurs and why
from DANIEL, age 15, Auckland, ?, New Zealand; May 14, 2000

You know Dinosaurmania has really picked up when dollar stores are stocking up on plastic reptiles of a prehistoric nature. During the Jurassic Park boom, they sold some good stuff, including a great Iguanodon and a decent Brachiosaurus I still have today. The dinosaurs were hollowed out to save the company money in the LOst World Boom, but they were still packaged with scientific identification, and looked okay. The ones I saw today are extremely poor though. They're thin and hollow of course, and are further cheapened by having holes punched in them, sometimes in embarassing places. They are not identified by genus in any way, just tossed there as if it didn't matter. I mean, they're only a buck, but you used to be able to buy a packaged set of two smaller, but good quality dinosaurs for $2.00.... What is the world coming to?
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 12, 2000

what do you like ?
from jack, age 7, ?, ?, ?; May 12, 2000

Hi, Jack! I like megalosaurs, ceratosaurs, prosauropods, odd and impressive sauropods, arch-snouted duckbills, centrosaurines, . . .
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 12, 2000

hi i am very interested i the i.q of dinosdaurus is there any way you show aht there i.q is well write back
from britt e., age 6, lake tahoe, california, usa; May 12, 2000

Maybe, Britt. If iq is the same as eq, it's part of most of the dinosaur information sheets on this site.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 12, 2000

I really love to know about dinosaurs. My favorite is the Raptor family...I wonder how they do to catch their prey. I'm always looking for dinasours information in my school library.
from Mario E, age 7, San Juan, Puerto Rico, ?; May 12, 2000

Here's some raptor stuff I found for you, Mario. The raptors may have hunted by flexing their toe claws into a killing position, and kicked with the rest of the leg, slashing into the belly of a plant-eater and gutting it in one stroke. Greg Paul has a slightly different idea, where the raptors ran alonside the plant-eater, jumped on its back, and wounded it while hey used their big, strong claws to hold on. Ouch!
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 12, 2000

Where's Brad??????????????????????????
from D.G., age ?, ?, ?, US; May 12, 2000

I just got home, D.G. I was at the library getting some dinosaur books! I found a really good one, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs by David Norman. It has lots of facts in it.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 12, 2000

hi i was just wandering do you know any good dinosaurs to do a report on my cool science teacher i letting us do one and i want mine to be fantastic so could tyou write about it plese to me and tell em a great one
from alley.d, age 8, sacremento, california, usa; May 12, 2000

I have question like yeah. Ok, whatever, anyways, like what dinosaur like should I like do for like my dinosaur report like yeah, whatever. So like respond like ok? Well, whatever but like you got to like respond because like if you don't like I'm in major like trouble like ok bye.
from Beatrice X., age 64, Willimansburg, Virginia, United States; May 12, 2000

hi Alley and, like, Beatrice. There are a lot of dinosaurs to write reports on, but the best genral rule is to go with whatever you can find enough information on. It may be fun to write about dubious genera, but you won't fill a page with it. My suggestions for your reports are are Deinonychus, Maiasaura, Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus, Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Iguanodon. There is a lot written about these dinosaurs in my collection of books, so hopefully you will be able to make a good report.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 12, 2000

i love dino s they are so cool and i want to meet one do you think i will ever be able to see one and do you know what the smallest dino is i dont but i would like to
from maddy l., age 8, ?, USAusa, usssssssssa; May 12, 2000

I like dinasours a lot and I wish I see them.
from Nichollette F, age 7, San Juan, Puerto Rico, ?; May 12, 2000

I know the feeling, Maddy and Nichollette. I really want to see a dinosaur too, and I might be coming pretty close this summer, since I will attend a dinosaur robot exhibit! Its still not the same thing though. The smallest dinosaur is known from penny-sized footprints that it left in Nova Scotia. It was a robin-sized meat-eater, but it isn't named.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 12, 2000

hi i was just wandering if i could have a dino for a pet they seem really cool and i want one now!!! how do i get one and then we could play with each othere and we could feed each other and when i get mad at my mommy he could growl at her!!! i am vicous too i am jsut like a dino can i also eat one they seem crunchy and nice to eata mabey on a stick or on a plate i like heads the best get ready t- rex heere comes a vicous hungry kid!!! my mmom said thtat dino were meabn back in the old age why
from stacy.b, age 4, antioch, california, usa; May 12, 2000

can i eat a dino please i really think they are very yummy yummy in my tummy i like meat i am a carnivour to just like trex i am vishious too just like trex
from sally w., age 4, ?????????, ????????, ???????????; May 12, 2000

Hi Stacy and Sally. You really think alike. I've personally never considered eating a dinosaur. You could say that technicly chickens and turkeys are dinosaurs, and eat one of them. If you want to eat something more exotic, try to find some ostrich or gator meat. Or just wait until Baskin Robins introduces Fossil Crunch ice cream this summer, with real dinosaur bone and egg fragments in every bite! (Just kidding on that last one, of course)
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 12, 2000

I like Trex but from what I read megaraptor is my favorite now. P.S. I like this site!
from Graham G, age 12, Carmel, ME, US; May 12, 2000

That's okay, Graham. I change my favourite all the time. I'm thinking of changing it tonight to Opisthocoelicaudia (not that I'm dumping any dinosaurs, I'm just adding a favourite), since it is a very strange and unique type of sauropod.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 12, 2000

WHERE WAS THE FIRST DINOSAUR FOSSIL FOUND.
from ASHLEY P., age 7, OREGON CITY, OREGON, NORTH AMERICA; May 11, 2000

Ashley- I'm not sure exactly which dinosaur fossil was first, there had been some debate about this. THe first dinosaur fossils found were all from England though, so if that is what you're asking there's the answer.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 11, 2000

hi i have learned alot about dinos but i still have one question what date did all dinosaurs exstinct and why did they exsctinct
from madeline y, age 6, new york city, new york, usa; May 11, 2000

We don't know an exact date or year, Madeline, but we might know the month that dinosaurs became extinct. Jack Wolfe studied a lot of plant fossils from the end of dinosaur times, and it looks like the leaves had frozen in the early summer. In 1991, he published the month that dinosaurs died: June. There has been some criticism to this theory, and it may not be exactly right. If you're just looking for a general time span, dinosaurs died out about 65,000,000 years ago. We don't know how dinosaurs went extinct, but there are lots of theories.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 11, 2000

i like this web site alot it is very interesting. i think i like dinosaurus alot now becuase i know how cool they were my favorite dinosaur is the t-rex because it is viscous and i like viscous animals even though they eat people they are very interesting. i cant belive the lowest i-q of a dinosaur is .05 thats amazing my i-q is 154 pretty amazing i am smarter than that one dinosuar. well i am hoing to go now tata for now and i love dinosaurs alot see ya later bye !!!!
from ashley w., age 11, lahuina, hawaii, united states of america; May 11, 2000

Ashley- good news. T.rex was viscous, but it never ate people. You can feel a little less guilty now. And believe it, some dinosaurs had tiny skulls with really little brains.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 11, 2000

How tall were the T-Rex how much did the T-Rex
from Eric K, age 9, Confluence, pensylvia, U.S.A; May 11, 2000

Well Eric, I can tell you that Tyrannosaurus rex stood about 12-15 feet tall in its natural relaxed position, or about 18 or 19 feet if it was really standing tall. 19 feet might be pushing it, since I think the American Museum of Natural History mount they dismantled for inaccuracy a few years back was 19.5 feet. I'm not sure what the new AMNH rex mount looks like, or how tall it is, I should visit their web page. As for your other question, the last word is missing and I have no idea what you are asking. Try posting it again.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 11, 2000

Dinosaurs are awsome me and katelyn love them.
from ERICA, age 11, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, AMERICA; May 11, 2000

Hi Erica! I love dinosaurs too!
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 11, 2000

dose anyone know anything about compsogathuses i have a prodgect due tomorow
from jon p, age 13, arlington, tx, USA; May 10, 2000

SOMEONE ANSWER
from jon p, age 13, ?, tx, usa; May 10, 2000

I hope this isn't to late, Jon. Compsognathus means "elegant jaw". It was a Saurischian dinosaur that was 40 inches long and weighed 6 to 8 pounds. Compsognathus lived in Germany and France during the Late Jurassic, 145 million years ago. It preyed on small vertebrates and insects. Its fossils are very similar to those of Archaeoptery, the first bird.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 11, 2000

What is the smartest dinosaur?
from John L, age 8, Silverton, Idaho, U.S.A; May 10, 2000

John, the smartest dinosaur was the Troodon. It was a meat-eater that lived in Canada and the United States during the Late Cretaceous period, and its brain was as large in comparison to the body as it is in some birds. There is even a theory that it could have evolved even smarter if it didn't die out, and been as smart as a person!
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 11, 2000

Haw many eggs did Brachiosaurus have?
from Arlie, age 8, pullman, Washingtoing, U.S.A.; May 10, 2000

Sorry Arlie, but this is one question we can't answer. To know how many eggs Brachiosaurus had, you would need to find a nest, or some grouping, anyway, of eggs containing bones from an unborn Brachiosaurus, which we don't have yet.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 10, 2000

Can you please send as soon as possible. I would like to know if T rex drank water and why? May 9 2000.
from Jenna T, age 9, Medical Lake, WA, USA; May 9, 2000

Hi Jenna! I tried to respond to your questions earlier, but it never appeared. Yes, Tyrannosaurus rex drank a lot of water, for the same reason any other animal would, to stay alive.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 10, 2000

Note: I didn't get your earlier response, Brad - I'll ask a technical person here to look into the problem. JC.

Did a T Rex drink water and Why?
from Jenna T, age 9, Medical Lake, Wa, USA; May 9, 2000

Where did dinosuars really live?
from Noelia Montoya, age 11, MIAMI, FLORIDA, UNI?T?D STATES; May 9, 2000

All over the place, Noelia. There is no place where dinosaurs didn't live, except for ooceans of course. There are some palces where you can't find dinosaurs though, where I live being an excellent example of a dinosaur-deprived province. :( You can find out which dinosaurs lived in a certain area on ZoomDinosaurs.com.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 9, 2000

Do you like dinosaurs?
from SABLE f, age 10, lancaster, ?, s.c; May 9, 2000

Of course I like dinosaurs, Sable! What's not to like?
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 9, 2000

dinos are da bomb
from Cody L., age 9, napa, California, U.S.A; May 9, 2000

Hi Cody! I couldn't name anything da bombier!
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 9, 2000

When the dino.s die they say that sharks were in the ocean at the time. How can they be living today if they died 65 million years ago? Wouldn't they be dino.s to?
from hj, age 12, Billings, Mt, usa; May 8, 2000

Okay, hj, I think I can clear this up. First of all, sharks are not dinosaurs. Even more, sharks are no more related to dinosaurs than they are to people. The line leading to sharks and the line leading to tetrapods (amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) split apart long before dinosaurs appeared. Second, the extinction that killed the dinosaurs did not kill every life form that was around at the time. There were sharks in the seas, but they didn't die out. Sharks probably benefited from this extinction, since it killed of their marine reptile competitors and made them the top hunters of the sea.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 9, 2000

If you wrote to this page in the last hour or so, your message was inadverdently lost (our disc was full), please write again - we've fixed the problem.

I noticed that it was answered in the Questions and Answers section today that one of the victims of the Triassic-Jurassic extinction were labyrinthodont amphibians. This is false, labyrinthodonts lived in Australia in the early Cretaceous. Like most Australian fossils, it is a pretty recent disocvery. The labyrinthodont appears in Don Lessem's amazingly cool book Dinosaur Worlds, but without a genus name. They apparently since named it Koolasuchus (sounds fake, eh?), although I haven't seen it called this in a book yet.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 8, 2000

Koolasuchus was named for Lesley Kool, an Austrailan paleontologist; she did a lot of the work excavating the jaw.

Let's talk about stegosaurs. More specificly, I'd like to discuss that shoulder spike so distinctive in illustrations of Kentrosaurus and other more primitive stegosaurs, yet strangely absent in Stegosaurus itself. The shoulder spike appears very useful in defending the front end of the stegosaur, keepng the jaws of the allosaur or ceratosaur from tearing off the front limb. Why would this feature disappear in the Stegosaurus we are all familiar with? Perhaps Stegosaurus could spin around fast enough to use its tail spikes against a carnivore attacking from the front, but it wouldn't hurt to be safe. If it wasn't for defense, maybe it was used to attract a mate, like the horns of Styracosaurus, or the crest of Parasauralpohus would later be interpreted as. Maybe they were used to scrape bark off of trees when there was no plants to eat. Still, it would not be beneficial to the Stegosaurus to not have them. I'm wondering if Stegosaurus might h! ave had a shoulder spike after all. Are there any Stegosaurus skeletons in existance that prove such a feature was not present? Maybe they were often carried off my predators as something to chew on after the meal. In a jumbled, poorly preserved specimen, they could be misidentified as tail spikes. Stegosaurus has been given a new image in recent years, including repositioning of the tail spikes, final "proof" regarding the position of the plates, and the discovery of a bony throat pouch. Could we be seeing shoulder spikes in the near future? Please write back with any opinions.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 8, 2000

This page confuses me!! and Brad u must like dinosaurs cuz u singed it more than half the singnings! ~Ashget
from Ashget, age 14, stillwater, MN, USofA; May 8, 2000

Am I confusing you, Ashget? Yes, this page is my obsession. I first suggested that ZoomDinosaurs do a message board a while ago as part of the 'Dinosaur Club' idea that was being considered at the time. I was recently e-mailed that my idea had been used, and since then I have posted stuff on dinosaurs every day, mostly as responses to other messages. Just continue using Dino Talk, and it will probably start to make sense.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 8, 2000

i love dinosours!
from verity, age 13, vic, sandringham, australia; May 8, 2000

Hi, Verity! I love dinosaurs too!
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 8, 2000

cool site. I really need to know more about Cryptoclidus!!! They are a marine dinosaur and are in the Plesiosauria family. Do u know more about them??!! This is for a school project.
from shelly, age 12, ?, ?, usa; May 7, 2000

Sorry, Shelly, but I know extremely little about the Cryptoclidus, or any other plesiosaur. First of all, plesiosaurs are not dinosaurs, but a seperate line of reptiles. There are very few books written on marine reptiles, since the ink washes off their skins rather easliy. Just kidding. If you are in need of homework help, the best place is the questions and Answers section of zoomdinosaurs, where you will be helped as much as possible.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 8, 2000

WOW! you sure do know alot of dinosaur stuff! I just had a dinosaur project.Is or has anyone trid to open a dinosaur egg. There could be a new discovered dinosaur inside. Palentologists havent found evrey single dinosaur in the world right.
from Nicole b, age 7, georgetown, ont, Canada; May 7, 2000

Thank you, Nicole. I'm not sure whether they actaully "open" the eggs, or just x-ray them, but I do know that palaeontologists have been able to take a look inside and find baby maiasaurs, hypacrosaurs, troodons, oviraptors, and titanosaurs (and possibly others, that was just off the top of my dinosaur-filled head) that never hatched. I am not sure if a "new" dinosaur has ever been named from a baby inside an egg, since it would be very difficult to determine if an adult dinosaur found later belonged to the same species. You are certainly right about not every dinosaur in the world being found yet. There have been three new dinosaurs named in this year alone (Bambiraptor, Byronosaurus, and one beginning with 'T'... a sauropod, I think), and years to come will not be any different.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 7, 2000

Thanks Brad one more question.Was the T-rex the biggest Dinosaur the Gigantasaurus or nither. It should be in the jurrassic piorid. The biggest dinosaurs were in jurrassic.Right.
from Nicole B, age 7, georgetown, ont, Canada; May 7, 2000

You know your dinos, Nicole. You're definately right to say that T. rex and Giganotosaurus were not the biggest dinosaurs. The biggest dinosaurs were plant-eating sauropods, that could weight 10 times as much! There were many huge dinosaurs in the Jurassic, but a few giants survivred into Cretaceous times. There is a very good book about giant dinosaurs called SUPERGIANTS! THE BIGGEST DINOSAURS, by Don Lessem. Here are "the biggest dinosaurs" from the book. Diplodocus, 82.5 feet, 11 tons or more, Late Jurassic Apatosaurus, 73.2 - 76.6, 17 - 20 tons, Late Jurassic Amphicoelis fragillimus, 125 - 200 feet, 50 - 150 tons, Late Jurassic Brachiosaurus, 66.6 - 83.2 feet, 30 - 50 tons, Late Jurassic Antarctosaurus, up to 100 feet, 50 tons, Late Cretaceous Mamenchisaurus, 82 - ?100 feet, 14 - 26.6 tons, Middle Jurassic Supersaurus, 117 - 150 feet, 40 - 50 tons, Late Jurassic Ultrasauros, 80 - 90 feet, 40 - 50 tons, Late Jurassic Seismosaurus, 110 - 170 feet, 25 - 35 tons, Late Jurassic Argentinosaurus, 100 - 115 feet, 80 - 100 tons, Late Cretaceous This chart is pretty readable in the typing section, but may be a mess when it gets posted. Because Amphicoelias was based on poor remains that no longer exist, Argentinosaurus, a Late Cretaceous dinosaur, is given the title of the biggest dinosaur.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 7, 2000

Does anyone think that a sickness or virus killed the dinosaurs. I do! But I don t have any proof. Who can help me!
from nicole b, age 7, georgetown, ont, canada; May 6, 2000

Hi, Nicole! Robert Bakker describes disease in his book, and I'll give you a brief summary of his theory. Beacause the shallow seas were shrinking at the end of the Cretaceous, some of the land that used to be under water was exposed, and dinosaurs could walk across it. This sometimes allowed dinosaurs from Asia to migrate down into North America through Alaska. Every dinosaur had its own type of germs on it, which it was immune to. Dinosaurs living on other continents were not immune to these diseases, an died from them. Dinosaurs could also ruin an environment if none of the other animals preyed on them. Yes, there is evidence that such a thing could happen. But its also an often criticized theory too, since it seems unlikely a disease could affect every single species of dinosaur, or that a disease or parasite would completely wipe out its host animal.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 6, 2000

Does anyone know when McDonald's gets the Disney DINOSAUR Happy Meal toys in?
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 5, 2000

Are all herbivores are all quadrupedal and carnivores bipedal?
from Chris C., age 8, Richardson, T.X, U.S.A; May 5, 2000

You're pretty much right, Chris, but there were a few exceptions. Most plant-eaters were quadrupeds, including sauropods, stegosaurs, anklosaurs and ceratopsians, were undoubtedly quadrupedal. Ornithopods and pachycephalosaurs were bipedal plant-eaters, although big ornithopods might have spent a lot of their time on all fours too. Meat-eaters stuck to the rules a lot more closely than the plant-eaters, although the genus Baryonyx is often depicted as being partially quadrupedal.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 5, 2000

What dinosaur is the most popular?
from Briana B., age 10, Marksville, LA, U.S.A.; May 5, 2000

Check the polls, Briana, its T. rex by far. Which one are you voting for? In the past, I've put in votes for Megalosaurus, Spinosaurus, Titanosaurus, the entire Therizinosauriodea, Leaelynasaurua, Shunosaurus, Amphicoelias... I know, I'm bad.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 5, 2000

WHAT DINOSAURS CANNOT FIGHT
from Megan W, age 12, DEVILLE, LA, U.S.A.; May 5, 2000

What dinosaur cannot fight?
from Kayla B., age 12, Marksville, Louisiana, United States; May 5, 2000

Its really weird that you asked the exact same thing, Megan and Kayla. Is there some sort of contest going on right now? Oh well, I'll still offer my help. Just look at some dinosaurs and see if they had weapons or not. Of the dinosaurs, I'd say the small ornithopods were poor fighters, they probanly ran from danger. Here are some of their names- Hypsilophodon Leallynasaura Lesothosaurus Thescelosaurus
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 5, 2000

hey i am dong an epic dinosaur poem. anybody have any interesting facts or drawings by young kids taht i could use. i am willing to buy some. from you. thanks henry
from henry, age 22, los angeles, ca, usa; May 4, 2000

Sounds cool, Henry. I just finished writing a book of dinosaur poems for my English project. It didn't have to be about dinosaurs, I just wanted mine that way. I'd give you my art for free, but I have no scanner so unfortunately I can't send them to you. Sorry.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 5, 2000

Remember the little fossil I wrote about yesterday? I showed it to my science teacher this morning, and he agreed with my interpretation of this fossil as a possible snail. He also looked over it further and suggested the possibility that it may have been a baby ammonite instead- cool! I didn't know baby ammonites had shells, but I leaned today that they did. Its possible ammonite relationships are based on a ridge along the middle of the specimen, but it is not a certain identification. Cool, anyway.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 4, 2000

Dinosaurs did not live millions of years a go, and if they did we wouldn't know what they looked like probably. Evolution isn't true either.
from Timothy G., age 5, Swannanoa, NC, USA; May 4, 2000

Wow, Timothy, those are some pretty daring claims that might not go over too well here. Saying that dinosaurs did not exist is not a very good way to make friends, especially on a dinosaur site. But I have to admit, you have really good spelling and typing skills for a 5 year old. How did you reach your conclusions? I'd rethink it if I were you. Dinosaurs are proven to have lived millions of years ago, and although we will never know exactly we can get a pretty good idea of what they looked like by studying fossils. Recent work by John Horner had revealed some really good examples of evolution in duckbilled and horned dinosaurs too.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 4, 2000

I need very good informashun
from Mike M., age 14, colodo city, United states; May 4, 2000

On what, Mike? It would be quite impossible to list all of the good inormation known on dinosaurs here, you must be more specific before we can help you. If it is really urgent, just take the link back to www.ZoomDinosaurs.com and try looking there.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 4, 2000

Thank you for your reply that you gave us we realy pareshiated it we would like to keep in touch with you sometime another day you realy know a lot about dinosaurs don,t you we would like to no more about dinosaurs.We would like it to be sent by tommow if possible.you got such a cool name DOOD!!!!!!
from Jack Matthew and Ernest, age 9.9.8., Cornwall, England and ireland, uk; May 4, 2000

Hi, Jack, Matthew and Ernest. Was that message for me? I try to reply to all of the messages posted here. If you have anyhthing dinosaurish that you want to discuss, jst post it here and I'll write back.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 4, 2000

my friends are having an agrument....if you could answere the question that would end our argument....Did dinosaurs jump?...yes or a no...if yes could you give a species...thanks..
from ed s, age 15, dartmouth, ma, usa; May 3, 2000

Cool, Ed! You got your friends to discuss dinosaurs with you! Some dinosaurs were jumpers, others weren't. Deinonychus was obviously capable of jumping (onto its prey) unless you can tell me how else it was supposed to use its cool sickle claw. But the really heavy dinosaurs, like Apatosaurus, would have broken their legs if they jumped on them. So there's really no arguement, dinosaurs are pretty varied.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 3, 2000

i like dinosaurs they are really cool.
from chloe, age 7, melb, ?, aust; May 3, 2000

I feel exactly the same way, Chloe.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 3, 2000

When you show pictures why don't you show real pictures of them?
from brandon, age 8, mobile, al., U.S.A.; May 3, 2000

I don't know, Brandon. The art of Zoomdinosaurs is pretty crude, but I have no idea why. Some of the dinosaurs are terribly disproportionate, and others just look bad. It would be nice to see some real photos of dinosaur fossil material on this site, and some more realistic art.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 3, 2000

My Dad just gave me a very unusual fossil. We have found many fossils in our Cretaceous marine rocks, but this is a first. It looks a lot like a partial shell of what may be a sea snail. It is three dimensional, and unlike anything else is not locked into a giant slab of rock, I can hold this one in my hand while I'm typing. My science teacher knows a lot about rocks and fossils, and I will take it to him for a better identification. We now have crinoid stalks, small bivalve shells, one larger bivalve shell (according ot my teacher, but I feel that it is closer to brachiopods), sponges, and now a possible snail. Now where are those mosasaurs hiding?
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 3, 2000

I did'nt know that dinosaurs were extinct for over about 65 million years ago. But thanks to WWW.ZoomSchool.com/Subjects/dinosaurs I know it now. Thanks ZoomSchool.com Thanks!
from ANDY E., age 10, Brooklyn, NewYork, United States of America; May 3, 2000

I'm glad you liked it, Andy.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 3, 2000

Why did dinosaurs become extinct?
from Kayti J., age 11, Throop, Pa, U.S.; May 3, 2000

I don't like to think about it much, Kayti, but I'll try to help. Many of the larger dinosaur books have at least a chapter on extinction, but I am older than you and a lot of it can be rather complicated. But if you're a strong reader, go for it. Try DINOSAUR! by David Norman, DINOSAUR LIVES, by John R. Horner and Edwin Dobb, THE RIDDLE OF THE DINOSAUR, by John Noble Wilford, THE DINOSAUR HERESIES, by Robert T. Bakker, and T. REX AND THE CRATER OF DOOM by Walter Alvarez for lots of information and opinions on the subject. T. REX AND THE CRATER OF DOOM, by the way, is entirely about extinction and was written by the founder of the famous asteroid theory. My advice is to find out about as many different theories as you can, and then make your own descision. If you have your own ideas about dinosaur extinction, Dino Talk is the place to share theories with the world! I hope to hear from you again soon.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 3, 2000

What dinosaur is the strongest
from Ernest, age 8, Cornwall, Ireland, uk; May 3, 2000

Hi,Ernest! Which dinosaur is strongest? As interesting as that would be to know, I really have no clue. A giant sauropod would have the greatest muscle mass, I assume, and it would be needed simply to lift legs that weighed hundreds of pounds. Ceratopians were very heavily muscled though, with extremely thick leg muscles for charging at opponents. Anklysaurs had good tail-swinging muscles, and T. rex's arms were surprisingly powerful. The best place to ask these kinds of questions is probably the questions & answers section of www.ZoomDinosaurs.com. There may have been tests to answer your question, and I'll keep reading and report anything that may interest you on this topic. If we can't find anything, then I guess that can be your first discovery as a future paleontologist.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 3, 2000

I think dinosaurs are cool I think some should be alive now. My favourite dinosaur is a t rex we both agree.Why should people think they should be extinct.Everyone wants to know. from Jessica and Nikita.
from Jessica W Nikita P, age 9, Truro, Truro, England; May 3, 2000

Interesting points, Jessica and Nikita. Having live dinosaurs would be great. We would know their colour, temperature, lifespans, and the functions of thier crests and horns. The only reason people object to such a cool thing is fear. A lot of pople believe that if tyrannosaurs, allosaurs, and velociraptors were still alive, they would eliminate our species. This is ridiculus. There are many dangerous animals today, but they tend to stay away from inhabited areas if they can. If anything, I believe that we would eliminate the dinosaus, or at least make them endangered. Dinosaurs needed huge territory to browse and hunt, and human interference would be inevitable. Human hunting and habitat destruction could make the dinosaurs extinct all over again.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 3, 2000

I think dinosaurs are really cool. My farvoite dinosaur is the Allosaur.I just did a report on him yesterday.It was really cool.I got a 95 on it because I worked really hard.
from Samantha M., age 13, Bronx, N.Y, Bronx; May 2, 2000

You are really lucky to get to do dinsaur reports at school, Samantha. I did one on the Brachiosaurus in grade 2, when I fist began to like dinosaurs. I wish I still had it. I do remember including some extrememly outdated information, even for the time. Congratulations on your great mark.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 2, 2000

How do you know how old the dinosaurs really are? Do you just guess? or is there a test they give the fossils?
from Jilli S, age 8, Grants Pass, OR, USA; May 1, 2000

There's a test, Jilli. I'm not sure exactly what it is, though. It has to do with the decay or transformation of radioactive elements within the rocks the fossils are found in.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 2, 2000

why did people never meet dinosaurs.
from Michael a, age 8, c.t, ?, u.s.a.; May 1, 2000

Good question, Michael. The reason that dinosaurs and humans never met is pretty simple. Dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago, but modern people have only occupied this earth for a few hundred thousand years. Dinosaurs and human beings didn't meet because they never existed on the planet at the same time. Of course, if you consider modern birds dinosaurs, you've probably met lots of them, and even eaten them for dinner!
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 1, 2000

It must have been when the planet had Dinosaur's that the planet had to be all vegitation cause most of the dinosaur's were plant eaters. YES or NO
from Josh W, age 11, MB, SC, USA; April 30, 2000

I'd have to say no, Josh. Most of the world is covered in water today, and the Mesozoic world would have been the same. Oceans were great habitats for icthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs, but not dinosaurs. The land would have been reasonably well covered in plants, but not entirely. There were desert environments too, and some open plains. Dinosaurian plant-eaters traveled great distances to find new food resources, then travelled back when the plants in an area had regrown. It was a very destructive way of life, but it worked for millions of years.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 1, 2000

I love dinosaurs beacause there big and small and and have lots of defenses and I wish of having a baby ultrosaur because I now that ultrosaur is the biggest dinosaur in the world it can look over a five story building . sometimes ultrosaur wins a battle with its whip like tail . and it can squish a little compthanasus splat. it can beet a tyrannasaurus rex in a battle.
from Diveris .V, age 8, CAROLINA, P.R, Puerto Rico; April 29, 2000

I know a lot about dinosaurs. How big is the Stegasaurs? How fat is he? My teacher Ms.Hyre once shared a book about dinosaurs. It was about a boy who thought all about these silly things.He has a bigger brother that thoght about silly things too! Ms.Hyre gave my class and I a big book with kid stories in it.It even had that dinosaur story in it! It was very funny. Please answer my two questions. LaJill Marie J.
from LaJill J, age 7, Romulus, Romulus, USA; April 28, 2000

Stegosaurus was a large animal, LaJill. From its beak to its tail spikes, Stegosaurus was about 25 feet long. It weighed about 3 tons. If by fatness you are referring to its width, I'm not sure about that at the moment. The exact widths of dinosaurs are rarely published in books or on the web, but I can tell you if it is fat or not. I know a website that has top views of dinosaur skeleton diagrams, so I will go there and check it out for you.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; April 29, 2000

Okay, LaJill, I just looked at Greg Paul's Stegosaurus skeletons. Stegosaurus isn't that fat, in my opinion. It definately did not have the huge flared gut of the nodosaurs and pachycephalosaurs. The width across the belly was about equal to the width of the larger pair of tail spikes, a few feet in a very rough estimate.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; April 29, 2000

I enjoy your website because I love dinosaurs and because I am studying about them in my second grade class. My two favorite dinosaurs are stegosaurus and triceratops. Do you know anything about the families of triceratops and stegosaurus? How do you know what sounds a dinosaur makes? From Alida
from ALIDA M, age 8, NEWTOWN, PA, USA; April 28, 2000

Alida, Stegosaurus and Triceratops are great dinosaurs, with awesome defenses. Here are the answers to your questions. Triceratops belonged to the ceratopsid family. Ceratopsids were plant-eaters that arose in the late Cretaceous period. Their relatives and ancestors were the psittacosaurs and the protoceratopsids. Ceratopsids used horns and frills for display and fighting with predators or each other,in battles for territory or mates. Some other kinds are Styracosaurus, Centrosaurus, Chasmosaurus, Pentaceratops and Torosaurus. Stegosaurus belonged to the stegosaurus. These herbivores were high feeders (Bakker) that lived in the middle to late Jurassic period. They all had spikes and/or plates. The spikes were powerful weapons, and the plates may have been display features or temperture control devices. Stegosaurs include Huayangosaurus, Kentrosaurus, Tuojiangosaurus and Lexovisaurus. As for the sounds dinosaurs made, its hard to tell. L! ambeosaurine crests were probably noise-makers, and you can download a simulated Parasauralophus call from the Internet. Sauropods may have used their high-placed nostrils to make noise. In movies like Jurassic Park, the sounds are made by mixing real animal noises.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; April 29, 2000

I just used the Scipionyx link on zoomdinosaurs to locate some good skeleton pictures. Overall, it could still be a bavarisaur. It has a simple, pointy little head that could belong ot anything, no feather traces at all (something especially likely on a baby theropod in that state of preservation), and lacks the "boot" on the front of the hip bone. The hands are three-fingered, a theropod characteristic, but not an especially dificult thing for anything else to evolve. The hands on the model did look a little diffent from those of other theropods, their long, spindly nature reminded me of an iguana lizard's long digits. I really wish the legs and tail were known, then I could check for a large, curved foot claw and ossified tendons on the tail, both raptor features. This really doen't change much about my theory, but I just thought I'd let you know. I'll admit, Scipionyx may very well be what everyone thought it was, a baby theropod. But let'! s all stay open-minded on this. What is your view on my theropod/bavarisaur articles? I'll consider your evidence if you consider mine.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; April 28, 2000

In the questions & answers section of zoomdinosaurs, it was asked about the small animal Scipionyx being cold-blooded, since it presumably had reptilian lungs. Since I believe dinosaurs were warm-blooded, especially the small raptory ones, I must now believe Scipionyx has been placed into the wrong order, and may not have been a dinosaur at all. What? Okay, I'll explain. There was a small animal called Bavarisaurus that inhabited Germany during the late Jurassic. I'd call this close enough to early Cretaceous Italy, where Scipionyx lived. Bavarisaurus had long hind limbs and short forelimbs, and was probably a bipedal runner. But a dinosaur? No, Bavarisaurus was a lizard. But when found within the body of a fossilized Compsognathus, it was thought to be the unborn young of this dinosaur. It is now known to have been compy's last meal, and not its offspring. I belive Scipionyx may be a repeat of this confusion. Maybe Scipionyx was a bavar! isaur, not a compy at all. Lizards, like the bavarisaurs, are and were cold-blooded. Dinosaurs were probably not. Unfortuntely, I have never examined any pictures of the Scipionyx fossils, so I may be missing something. But I can be sure that sometihng is very wrong about what is currently being said about it. If you have any comments, don't hold back. I'll listen to anything you have to say about my little speculation.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; April 28, 2000

THE biggest dinosaurs Elasmosauruus.
from Anthony, age 7, Jersey City, NJ, USA; April 28, 2000

did you know that i think that ankelosauurus looks like a goose mabey thats what it avolved from
from austin v, age 6, lewis center, ohio, USA; April 27, 2000

I just got the book The Dinosaur Heresies by Robert T. Bakker today. It is one of the best dinosaur books of all time. I found his new classification scheme to be very interesting. Finally, a book thats crammed with informaion AND pictures. Very cool.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; April 27, 2000

Did you know that T.rex feathers were found on Tinker (the only juvinile Tyrannosaurus found)?
from Robert S., age 9, Lawrenceville, G.A., U.S.A.; April 27, 2000

Re: Tinker's Feathers No, I wasn't aware of that. I'll go to the Tinker website and check it out.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; April 27, 2000

I checked www.kidrex.com, and Tinker probably did not have feathers. The question was raised on Kid Rex's own message board, and is was decided that Tinker had probably outgrown his baby fluff. He was a lot bigger than the little guy in National Georaphic artcle "Feathers for T. rex?", he's been compared to a person in grade 4 to 6. In the art gallery, illustrations of Tinker show him without feathers, which leads me to believe he wansn't found with any. But just because Tinker didn't have feathers when he died, he may have hatched with them. We just won't know until a younger rex is found.
from Brad, age 13, Woodville, ON, Canada; April 28, 2000

DID YOU HAVE T.REX IN JLIE
from RACHEL D., age 7, G.F, NY, ?; April 27, 2000

I like that joke
from why did the dinosaur cross the road, age 8, Millsap, Texas; April 27, 2000