Daily Dino Fact: What are these things, anyway?

Q: What was the first dinosaur discovered? -Fakecrunch

A: Well Fakecrunch, dinosaur fossils have been found by humans for a very long time. It is

believed that many ancient Chinese myths about dragons were founded on the fossil remains of

dinosaurs. However, it wasn’t until the 1600’s that a dinosaur bone was scientifically described.

Even then, humans still didn’t know quite what it was.

Robert Plot, an English museum curator, found a bone in 1676 that he believed to be the thigh

bone of an ancient giant human being. Based on drawings we have of his find, most assume it

was part of a Megalosaurus bone.

In 1822, Mary Ann Mantell from England found a set of giant fossilized dinosaur teeth that she

thought belonged to an ancient iguana.

Finally, in 1841, Sir Richard Owen hypothesized that these collection of bones weren’t from any

kind of animal that we were ever aware of before. He decided that these group of animals should

be called “Dinosauria” which we all know means “terrible lizard.”

Thank you so much for the question, Fakecrunch. Looking forward to answering some more!

-Rex