Dinosaurs have been the subject of scrutiny, fascination and even mysticism for more than 300 years, since the first dinosaur bone was discovered by scientists.
Now, Dinosaur Day provides an opportunity for students, teachers and just general fans of dinosaurs to learn more about them and celebrate them just as they deserve!
How to Celebrate Dinosaur Day
Kids and adults alike can enjoy the fun and adventure of Dinosaur Day with tons of different educational and creative activities to choose from:
Visit a Museum with Dinosaurs
What could be better than hanging out with actual dinosaurs and visiting a bunch of ancient dinosaur bones in celebration of Dinosaur Day?
This is the day to head over to a museum, whether local or far away, to get up close and personal with these unique and interesting characters.
Here are some of the most interesting dinosaur museums in the world:
- The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH) in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Featuring dinosaurs from all over the globe, including Antarctica and Madagascar, the Evolving Planet exhibit houses Sue, the world’s largest Tyrannosaurus Rex, weighing 600 pounds and revealing 58 teeth.
- Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany. This natural history museum hosts a giant collection of bones of many species, particularly those excavated from Tanzania, Africa in the 20th century. This museum is most famous for its 41-foot, 5-inch Brachiosaurus, which is the tallest dinosaur in the world that is on display today.
- Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Science in Brussels, Belgium. The impressive collection of fossils at this museum is home to the largest dinosaur hall in the world. Particularly of note is its collection of 30 Iguanodons, which were the second dinosaur to be classified in the 1800s.
- National Dinosaur Museum in Canberra, Australia. In addition to bones, fossils and footprints, this museum boasts an outdoor garden that features large dinosaur sculptures and even animatronics.
Subscribe to the National Geographic for Kids Magazine
Want the kids to keep up with all that’s going on in the world, including the dinosaur world?
The National Geographic Magazine for Kids (sometimes called NatGeo for Kids) is a superb way to keep them interested in learning about all sorts of scientific and natural subjects, including their favorite dinosaurs, of course.
Watch a Movie with Dinosaurs
Those who just want to stay home in celebration of Dinosaur Day can still join in on the fun by taking a look at some of these delightful flicks featuring dinosaurs:
- Jurassic Park (1993). Steven Spielberg directs this classic sci-fi dinosaur movie that has gained a bit of a cult following. This movie is based on a 1990 novel by Michael Crichton and becomes the first in a franchise of several films.
- Night at the Museum (2006). Ben Stiller stars in this fantasy comedy that is about tons of creatures coming alive in the museum at night, including Rexy, the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton that is a major exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in New York City, USA.
- The Land Before Time (1988). This heartfelt animated film features an orphaned dinosaur who faces challenges and learns how to survive after meeting up a few friends.
- Land of the Lost (2009). Based on a 1970s television show of the same name, this sci-fi adventure comedy movie stars Will Ferrell as a pompous paleontologist who goes on the adventure of a lifetime and, of course, encounters dinosaurs along the way.
History of Dinosaur Day
While no one knows exactly the dates, some scientists have researched and estimated that non-bird dinosaurs probably were roaming the planet in the time range from 245 to 66 million years ago, which was still millions of years prior to human history.
The era in which dinosaurs lived, the Mesozoic Era, which is a geological age that can be divided into three parts: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.
This may have been the time when the land on earth was originally in one piece, but eventually split into the several pieces which are now referred to as the modern continents.
It is estimated that dinosaurs became extinct from the earth around 65 million years ago, perhaps due to the impact of an asteroid, volcanic eruptions and possible climate change. Sadly, humans now can only make educated guesses about what happened to them.
The first evidence of the existence of dinosaurs on the planet that was discovered by humans happened in 1677 when naturalist and Oxford professor, Robert Plot, found a lone bone from a dinosaur. Since he didn’t really know what it was, Plot’s best guess was that it had come from a giant human.
More than 100 years later, when William Buckland became the first geology professor at Oxford University in the early 1800s, a fossil was identified as being from a dinosaur.
It was in 1815 when he discovered teeth, jaw and limb bones that he found more bones in his travels. In 1824, he determined that these bones must have been from some extinct creature.
Buckland originally though this species to be some sort of ancient lizard, which he called “Megalosaurus”. The second fossil to be named was suspected to be like an iguana, so it was called “Iguanodon” in the early 1820s.
Eventually, by 1842, this family of fossils was grouped together by scientist Sir Richard Owen, who called it “Dinosauria”, which translated to “terrible lizard”. Owen would eventually go on to found London’s Natural History Museum in 1881 and that museum is still famous for its dinosaur bone collections today.
It’s no surprise that creatures with such a mysterious history would fascinate and confound even the most intelligent and educated scientists. Today, children and adults of all ages love learning more about the types of dinosaurs, how they lived, what they ate, and so much more.
Dinosaur Day is the perfect way to celebrate and pay heed to this unique and enigmatic species of creatures that preceded humans on this planet.
Dinosaur Day Timeline
Dinosaurs live on earth
Scientists estimate that dinosaurs may have walked the earth somewhere beginning around this time.
Dinosaurs go extinct
Sadly, at least 65 million years before humankind, dinosaurs are eradicated through some type of major natural disaster, perhaps an asteroid, volcanic eruptions or climate change.
First dinosaur bone is discovered
Though he doesn’t know it at the time, Robert Plot of Oxford, England, unearths the first dinosaur bone, which he thinks is a bone from a giant human.
Dinosaurs are first given their category name
Oxford geology professor, William Buckland, realizes that many of these ancient bones belong together in one category, so he names them “Dinosauria”.
Jurassic Park is released in theaters
This film by Steven Spielberg combines the genres of science fiction and action to become a hit with audiences.
Facts About Dinosaur Day
Warm‑blooded traits in dinosaur bones
Microscopic study of dinosaur bones shows many species grew extremely fast, a pattern more like today’s birds and mammals than reptiles.
Bone “histology” reveals dense networks of blood vessels and fibrolamellar bone tissue, which in living animals is associated with high metabolism and rapid growth, suggesting many dinosaurs were at least partly warm‑blooded.
Antarctic dinosaurs reveal a polar ecosystem
Dinosaur fossils have been found less than 400 miles from the South Pole, including plant‑eating sauropods and small theropods discovered on James Ross Island and the Transantarctic Mountains.
These finds show that during the Cretaceous period Antarctica supported forests and diverse dinosaur communities, even though months of darkness and cool temperatures would have challenged cold‑blooded animals.
Birds as living dinosaurs
Virtually all paleontologists now classify birds as a branch of theropod dinosaurs, based on features such as wishbones, three‑toed feet, air‑filled bones, and nesting behavior.
Transitional fossils like Archaeopteryx from Germany and later feathered theropods from northeastern China preserve wings, feathers, and even pigment structures that firmly link modern birds to their dinosaur ancestors.
Dinosaurs nested in colonies and cared for their young
Fossil “nurseries” show that some dinosaurs laid eggs in organized colonies and may have tended their offspring.
At Montana’s Egg Mountain site, paleontologists found multiple nests of the duck‑billed dinosaur Maiasaura, containing eggs, broken shells, and bones of hatchlings that stayed in the nest as they grew, evidence that parents returned repeatedly to raise their young.
The asteroid that struck Mexico left a global scar
The leading explanation for non‑bird dinosaur extinction centers on a roughly 6‑mile‑wide asteroid that slammed into what is now Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula about 66 million years ago, forming the Chicxulub crater.
Drilling into the buried crater has revealed shocked minerals and melted rock, while a worldwide layer rich in iridium, a metal rare on Earth’s surface but common in meteorites, pinpoints the same catastrophic event.
Dinosaur diversity keeps climbing
New species of dinosaurs are described nearly every month, and scientists have already named more than 1,000 valid species ranging from chicken‑sized raptors to long‑necked giants over 100 feet long.
Statistical studies of the fossil record suggest that many lineages are still undersampled, meaning the total number of dinosaur species that once lived was likely several times higher than those currently known.
Feathered dinosaurs were not just flyers
Feathers did not evolve only for flight; numerous non‑flying dinosaurs carried elaborate coverings.
Fossils from China’s Liaoning Province show small theropods with simple filaments, fuzzy coats, or complex, branching feathers on their arms and tails, suggesting early feathers first evolved for insulation, display, or brooding long before some lineages adapted them for powered flight.
