This list explores some of the popular misconceptions about dinosaurs; about how much we actually know about them, and about how well the evidence supports some of our most cherished beliefs concerning dinosaurs.
1. Myth One
The Myth: Humans lived alongside dinosaurs
Dinosaurs and people coexist only in books, movies and cartoons. The last dinosaurs – other than birds – died out dramatically about 65 million years ago, while the fossils of our earliest human ancestors are only about 6 million years old.
2. Myth Two
The Myth: Mammals only evolved after dinosaurs died out
Tiny mammals lived in the shadow of the dinosaurs for more than 150 million years, occupying ecological niches as small, nocturnal animals weighing as little as 2 grams. The ancestors of mammals, animals called synapsids, actually appeared before dinosaurs.
Mammals remained relatively small until 65 million years ago, when the demise of the dinosaurs left a mass of niches for larger mammals to fill. Most of the types of mammals we know today evolved after this time.
3. Myth Three
The Myth: Dinosaurs died out because mammals ate their eggs
Dinosaurs coexisted with mammals for 150 million years. Although dinosaur nests were undoubtedly vulnerable, the most dangerous predators were probably smaller dinosaurs. Most mammals of the time were probably too small to eat the eggs of large dinosaurs.
4. Myth Four
The Myth: An asteroid impact alone killed the dinosaurs
A layer of iridium-rich rock marks the impact 65 million years ago of a 10-kilometre asteroid in shallow water covering what is now Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. That impact formed the 180 kilometre-wide Chicxulub crater. There is no convincing evidence that any non-avian dinosaurs survived the aftermath of the impact. Yet we are still not totally sure how the dinosaurs died.
The impact itself could only have killed the dinosaurs in the immediate vicinity of the crater. But it also produced devastating after-effects including giant tsunamis, rain that may have been as acidic as battery acid, and clouds of dust that darkened and cooled the globe for months or even decades.
Another theory suggests that before the impact, dinosaurs were already dwindling as falling sea levels and volcanic eruptions took their toll. A combination of those effects probably wiped out the dinosaurs.
5. Myth Five
The Myth: Dinosaurs died out because they were unsuccessful in evolutionary terms
Dinosaurs survived for more than 150 million years, so they cannot be considered unsuccessful. Hominids have lived for only 6 million years, and Homo sapiens date back no more than 200,000 years. Dinosaurs out-competed other animals of their era, but they lost the battle to survive the effects of the asteroid impact.
6. Myth Six
The Myth: All dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago
Birds evolved about 150 million years ago. Most experts believe they evolved from small predatory dinosaurs, which would classify them as dinosaurs according to modern methods of grouping animals. These avian dinosaurs probably suffered some losses after the asteroid impact, but they soon rebounded.
7. Myth Seven
The Myth: Dinosaurs were slow and sluggish animals
Early paleontologists thought dinosaurs must have been slow and sluggish to have lost the “evolutionary race” to birds and mammals. Modern studies find no sign that they were laggards, lazily dragging their tails behind them.
Most dinosaurs were probably as mobile as large, modern mammals. Like lions, meat-eating dinosaurs were active predators that probably lay down and rested after eating their fill.
One study in 2000 of an exceptionally well-preserved hadrosaur fossil, found in a South Dakota riverbed, suggested that dinosaurs had powerful hearts more like those of birds or mammals than modern reptiles. Researchers argue that the fossilized, four-chambered heart points to an active, bird-like metabolism.
8. Myth Eight
The Myth: All large land reptiles from prehistoric times were dinosaurs
Terrestrial reptiles reached 5 metres in length before the first dinosaurs evolved 230 million years ago. Some – such as sail-backed Dimetrodon, which flourished in North America during the Permian period (290 to 240 million years ago) – were related to dinosaurs, but were not true dinosaurs.
9. Myth Nine
The Myth: Marine reptiles – for example, plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs – were dinosaurs
Several types of marine reptiles evolved during the dinosaur age, but all true dinosaurs were terrestrial animals. Marine crocodiles, like other crocodiles, were closely related to the dinosaurs and so were large, extinct marine reptiles called plesiosaurs, pliosaurs, mosasaurs and ichthyosaurs.
10. Myth Ten
The Myth: Flying reptiles were dinosaurs
Flying reptiles called pterosaurs first appeared just after the dinosaurs, and then died out at the same time as the dinosaurs. The largest grew to the size of a small airplane. However, while they were close relatives, they were not true dinosaurs.
Source: New Scientist
Great List! I have been a dino buff since 4th grade.
01. Myth One
The Universe is millions or billions of years old. Simply not true.
I never have to listen/read very long before any “expert” identifies himself or herself as being a secularist/Atheist, or paganistic in their beliefs concerning the existence of all things. As soon as any person begins speaking out of their butts in terms of millions & trillions of years I just have to laugh. If you wish to believe (put your faith) in the concept (theory) that all of creation with all of it’s infinite intricacies is all simply an random accident, and ultimately man’s lives are effectively meaningless then you have the freedom to do so, but please be courteous to those of us whom have resided in the fact that all things are created with definite purpose and design, that life is short and each of us only have one chance to make the right decision while we are here, and there are indisputable and lasting consequences to every decision we each make throughout our lives, all other things are secondary and even trivial in comparison. BTW, the earth has been repeatedly and and scientifically proven to be no more than 7,000 to somewhere less than 20,000 years old. Also, our ancestors were massively superior to us physically and mentally. Their lifespans lasted hundreds of years and they engineered sculptures and structures that cannot be duplicated today even using modern technical equipment and tools. But to recognize this statement as being true one would have to take responsibility for his actions- or in-actions in life and humbly recognize he is a creation of a much higher and loving Being. Evolution in all it’s forms is merely a cop-out. It’s always a matter of choice, even to those whom have no written language or have no knowledge of modern religion, or science.
I see that someone took their crazy pill this morning. The earth is only 7,000 to 20,000 years old? Are you kidding? I’m pretty sure the discovery of dinosaur fossils kinda disproved that false fact, maybe you should come down off your high horse and start thinking like us regular people buddy.
P.S. You just got schooled by a teenager!
The guy is posting from 1999. Be open-minded…
:p
Any moron could tell you that the earth is in fact is 4.54 ± 0.05 billion years old. Seems like someone is a bit to into their bible.
Dan: I have always loved them too – I am surprised it has taken me this long to do a list on them!
I mean come on: “The largest grew to the size of a small airplane” How cool is that?
dan231: imagine what it must be like to see them in the sky! I wish someone would clone them!
“dan231: imagine what it must be like to see them in the sky! I wish someone would clone them!”
Sound like a great idea! let’s make a movie about cloning dinosaurs….oh wait….damn
evan: hehe – if only it were true!
awesome list. i’ve always been fascinated by dinosaurs.
Myth 11: Dinosaurs could talk and frequently worked together in an interspecies friendship to go on various adventures. They also had lovely singing voices.
Myth #12 Dinosaurs were purple and green, extremely obnoxious, loved by small human children and hated by 99.8% of adult humans.
So what you’re intimating is that the Flintstones were fictional?
My world no longer makes sense…
myth #13 – if you tied a little mastadon to a set of wheels and attached a vertical pole it would act as a vacuum cleaner.
DiccHuker: That really had me in a giggle fit.
So what’s the criteria for being a “true dinosaur”? The last three myths confused me….
OK, for fear of sounding angered, which I’m not, and for fear of sounding a little too un-scientific, which I am also not, I have to disagree with number one. I am a devout Christian who does believe in the bible and biblical facts and according to many new Christian teachers, dinosaurs did, in fact, exist along side at least Adam and Eve. In the bible the text describes beasts called behemoths having trunk-like legs and extensively long tails that were among the beast in and around the garden of eden. If I am not mistaken I believe some form of same were aboard the Ark as well. Now, I am a scientific minded fellow and found this incredibly hard to believe before speaking to a pastor I once had and he laid it out for me quite well making me understand how the dating processes that scientists have are not always accurate and that dino’s could have, in fact, lived alongside humans. Especially if you believe that God created all living things around about the same time. Here’s some info worth reading:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/2.asp
Regardless, it is something that is hotly debated and a matter of faith for many of us. I understand that you might be more of the purely scientific mind that I am, and that is great– I wasn’t always as ‘Faithful’ as I am now, either– so to each his own and I shall not try to change your feelings otherwise. Great list indeed!
sorry just to let you know you pastor lied to you. yes the dating process can be off a couple thousand years, but not millions. Compound that with all the fossils that we have found and dated (thousands), it is astronomically impossible that we don’t have an “accurate” date. that and the fact that the bible dates the earth as only 10,000 years old makes this even more impossible. Your pastor needs to repent for his sin.
Let’s hope there aren’t a lot of Christian fundamentalists who visit this site. If I want to see a flamewar I’ll go to Fark.
Kelsi and DiscHuker- hahaha
I’m a Christian and I don’t believe in the creationist theory of the world. Its pretty comical IMHO. The bible, especially the old test in my view, isn’t to be taken literally. Just because I feel evolution happened/is happening, doesn’t mean I don’t believe in God though. God could be the force behind it. I just don’t believe in the literal view of creation as per the bible. That God created the earth just a few thousand years ago, with dinosaurs and man and all at the exact same time.
Some people believe, I could be wrong but I think Ben Franklin was one, in the “watch maker” view of God. That God create everything necessary in the universe (i.e. gravity, magnetism, matter…etc) and simply set the universe in motion and doesn’t interfere with it.
This is called deism that is what you are a deist. Congratulations!
evan- Exactly, that’s why you’re not a Christian fundamentalist.
Jackie: to be a dinosaur it had to dwell entirely on land – not in the air or water – that is a good basic starting point
stewWriter: There were giant creatures described in the Book of Genesis, but could it not be possible that they were mammoths of some kind? We know they existed side by side with man (in fact the last ones died out around 2500 BC) and they were giant elephants (though not dinosaurs). They would certainly have had trunk like legs
As far as science is concerned – while I agree completely that carbon dating is not always accurate (and therefore should almost never be relied upon) – no layer of earth contains both human and dinosaur bones at the same point – so regardless of the age of the earth – natural soil deposits would suggest that the dinos did not live on earth with man.
I’m anxiously awaiting the re-opening of the Dinosaur Hall at the Carnegie Museum. They are renovating it for several reasons, one being that they have realized that some of the dinosaurs’ poses were not entirely accurate (the dinosaurs have been there since the ’40′s, I believe). Apparently we’ve got the definitive T. Rex, and all others are compared to this one. (Our T. Rex is better than your T. Rex!) I would bet that most people have seen the Dinosaur Hall; Jodie Foster walks through it in Silence of the Lambs. I’m watching it at Dinosaur Cam.
Mathilda: great site – though it doesn’t seem to like macs
one disappointing thing about museums is almost every single piece on display of “bones” or “fossils” are fakes. They’re castings not the real deal. The real ones are behind lock and key away from the public
evolution could have been god’s method for creating man. i know that pretty much throws the holy bible out(or just genesis), but it’s my belief that no omnipotent being would have dictated it’s writing anyway. if he can hand moses the comandments then why not just hand us a book. that’s what i say. i may just be a deist.
…oh sorry
myth #1 totally busted
JFrater: At the risk of sounding lazy and dull today: I’m just too lazy and dull today to create a rebuttal. I know exactly what you are saying anyway, since my brain loves to be 50% scientific and 50% Christian (although a believe Einstein said that the two should not be without the other). I am aware of all the compelling evidence of your argument and I want, with 100% of me, to believe it is all true… but it is so hard to do both when the credo for Christianity when faced with such issues is just: take it all on Faith. I will submit to defend this round and continue to be torn asunder by both apparently correct theorems. I have but little other choice…
Long live Godzilla !!! Come to think of it, I wonder where I can find the Mothra song those tiny little ladies sing.
i dont think its wrong for you question parts of your faith. to me, to just take it all on faith is unreasonable. to me, blind faith is no faith.
StewWriter: I wasn’t intending to cause you to need to rebutt
There are many Christian religions that believe in the creation of man by God but also accept that parts of the Bible – whilst being 100% the Word of God, are sometimes given in a metaphorical sense (such as the mustard seed being the smallest seed – it isn’t – but Christ used that as an example – it doesn’t mean the Bible contains errors). Faith and reason (fides et ratio) can go hand in hand without contradiction – just read Aquinas – he will convince you 
StewWriter – I read an article years ago about a gentleman who believed that the Bible was strictly accurate, but was having problems resolving that with his equally firm belief that dinosaur fossils were more than 6,000 years old. So he came up with a theory which I truly admire – he suggested that God did indeed create the world 6,000 years ago. However, when he did so, he created fossils in rocks that were millions of years old. Sorry I cannot remember his name. I really liked the argument though; he said that theoretically God could have created the world ten minutes ago, and given all of us false memories of our lives (that we never actually led) up until that point.
Also, hasn’t the Vatican stated that evolution is a creditable version of God’s creation or something along those lines?
Thomas Aquinas, lol every time I hear that name now, I think of Governor Arnold saying it from the movie line.
Yes, I agree that accepting Faith but holding onto a little bit of science is fine. In fact, that is what I desperately try to do. I have to say that my battle cry for a long time is that God has created something(s) to evolve thereby giving the rest of us something else to occupy our time while still inherently accepting God as the one power who did it all. I also like the comment about God pretty much being able to have created all things ten minutes ago and no one would be the wiser, and, consequently, could have shoved fossils in the earth just to have something to dig up. Such a crazy notion but equally as intriguing none the less! I suppose it’s just as compelling as anything else, right?
Evan,
But even the “real things” aren’t the real bones of dinos. They’re just stone that filled in the organic bones.
goshdarnitt- I’m not religious anymore, but evolution doesn’t necessarily throw out the story of creation found in Genesis. Many Christians read it symbolically; for example, they believe each “day” represents millions of years.
Most, if not all, biblical scholars recognize that beasts such as “leviathan” (or _lotan_) and “behemoth” are motifs taken directly from Ancient Near East stories (e.g., Ugarit). They represent something else besides a biological reality.
And that both are presented in the Wisdom literature (e.g., Psalms, Job) which often uses such poetic license to depict a superreality or a metaphorical way of seeing the world is significant.
In any case, as far as Christians go, the older churches of Catholicism and Orthodoxy allow Evolution to be an open question. There is no doctrine on it other than that it’s a scientific question that needs to be explored scientifically.
Whatever happened to the idea of a worldwide flood possibly killing all the animals(dinosaurs are animals too). If scientists focused on that possibilty then maybe they would discover that God does exist. I encourage all to check out the websites …www.icr.org and the links provided..http://www.icr.org/article/1842/ These are scientists that are as educated as those that believe in evolution and the dinosaur theories. Science has proven creation.
RobS, duh lol, I mean real fossils, not plaster recreations.
Scientific methods have shown that the earth is not an infinite entity, it hardly has shown that the earth was created by a divinity. As an Orthodox Christian I would like it be so, but it is not the case.
It certainly is not as apparent as if one can read these words and say “Hey, these are words in a sentence.” Instead, Creationism relies on non-falsifiable criteria; i.e., the problem that no one can disprove the idea.
Here’s one example: many (not all) creationists–especially Young Earth creationists–contend that divinity created the earth with the appearance of age, which would include fossils that appear to be older than the creationist date of creation (whenever that would be).
The problem is that there are no criteria by which to disprove this idea, hence it is not scientific at all.
I can say, “I created you” to someone. Since they cannot disprove it, then am I their creator?
True, and I’m not arguing for a creationists, but science cannot always be trusted as the end all be all of knowledge. Whenever we think we know something, it usually then becomes clear we don’t.
Example, the grand unification theory still doesn’t exist. We dealing with things like large scale compare to small scale, so far, even science fails to explain it. Take Newton’s theories, work well until you go to the atomic level, then they don’t make sense anymore. So then you must switch to Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, which contradicts Newton. But works great until you go to even smaller scale, sub atomic. Then it too breaks down, and you must switch to another theory, string theory, etc.
So to say beyond all doubt that some form of creation didn’t occur because science says so, don’t mean it’s completely fact. Which is why it’s still called the THEORY of evolution, not the law.
very informative… i love topics about animals including those extinct ones especially dinosaurs. i didnt even know myths such as those existed. even if i knew they did, i wouldnt have believed them anyway.
btw id have to agree with evan and jamie, dinosaurs didn’t coexist with ancient humans. like what they said, dinosaurs were extinct waaaaay before humans appeared. what else is needed for proof aside from the age of their fossils? and in national geographic there is this layer of earth having very large amounts of iridium, (usually only found in very little quantity) believed to be the period of time when the killer asteroid hit earth. under such layer is an abundance of dinosaur fossils, and above the layer rich in iridium there is a complete absence of them. and it is quite a long period of time before the layer of earth came where the humans existed.
well thats just what i read and watched, im not very good at explaining things but i hope you guys get the point…
Really? debating the age of dinasours? really? whats next? heliocentrism? thats opposed the bible. spherical earth?
How does a dinosaur page turn into religion…? *sigh*
I believe comment #14 is was started it. But why the *sign*? if the top ten lists didnt start off shoot discussion i wouldnt find the site so appealing. All you would have is a bunch of comments like “good list!” or “bad list!!!!”. Keeps it fresh
Evan,
What do you think a ‘real fossil’ is? It’s rock. Minerals that have replaced the bone.
DUH! rock! minerals that over time, have naturally replaced the bone! NO CRAP!
But the vast majority ones in Museums on display are man made plaster replicas, made from a mold of the original fossil (ROCK, yes i know), and not the original MADE OF ROCK fossil that was dug up out of the ground.
Not the momma! Not the momma!
Wow…giant thingies that lived many many many millions of years ago can cause such debate. Fascinating that science and faith can actually clash. One is based on hardcore (hopefully), the other on…….hope. I guess we must ask ourselves as individuals, which is more important? Fascinating indeed. Thx Jfrater for fostering a realm of intellectual discourse.
Beautiful list jfrater! I’ve always wanted to be a paleontologist since I was 6. I hope you make another list of of dinosaurs in the future like Top 10 Famous Dinosaurs or something like that.
I hate to say it but StewWriter’s right. I saw a documentary about humans coexisting with dinosaurs. I think it was called Jurssic park or something
I just want to say Einstein never, never, said that faith and science should go together as StewWriter said. I’m not against religion, but there are many quotes from Einstein that he never said or have been taken out of context (maybe make a list about those?).
I’m curious as to why anyone would think that there is any problem about these topics. While dissent always swirls around any idea, and consensus is not necessarily the leading agent of truth, it would be interesting to see how philosophically-flawed ideas in Creationism are supposed to be good.
Evolution may not be true, that’s fine. But a construction of a theory based on empirical falsifiability is better than one (i.e., Creationism) based on anti-theory, tendentiousness, and non-falsifiability.
Hooray! Another religious debate! Jfrat- you knew this would happen didn’t you? I can see you there, somewhere in the world, clacking away on your keyboard, lauging like the villan in an old cartoon,”HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! This will get them talking!!!!”
Then you kick back, have a snack and watch the sharks start to frenzy.
Evil!
Yarr – I truly didn’t think this would escalate
But it doesn’t matter if it does – I trust everyone here to go at it in a mature way 
Just to throw my $.02 cents in, I’m a non-believer and find all three major theories – evolution, intelligent design and creationism, to be flawed, but evolution at least makes sense to me. The other two seem to posit that a higher being – assumably an infallible, powerful higher being – ultimately made something that is deeply flawed: human beings.
We’ve really screwed the pooch when it comes to our fellow creatures and our planet. At least with evolution, humans have no one but ourselves to blame when it comes to the mess we’ve made of things. If the higher power is so shorsighted that [it] couldn’t see what we would do if left to our own devices, well….it’s not a higher power I have a lot of faith in. Pun intended.
As for the list – look a list – I honestly didn’t know that flying reptiles and aquatic reptiles were not dinos. I thought they were all the same critter. My bad.
Evan: At the Museum of Natural History in New York many of the displays are made up of a mix of real fossils and plaster molds. Part of the reason for this is that some of the skeletons were not complete when they were dug up, so the museum had to fill in the blanks, so to speak. Also, on the T-Rex for example, the fossilized skull is in a display case on the floor, because it is too heavy to be suspended 20+ feet above the museum patrons.
jen: too true. personally, i don’t think god had anything to do with the bible whether he exists or not.
has anyone here heard of dinosaur comics?!?!
http://www.qwantz.com
it’s beautiful. i wager everone here will giggle.
today’s comic reminds me of a sketch written by mark twain called “simplified spelling”
Im amazed. An argument about religion online that managed to stay not only educated and mature but profanity-free. its a cultural anomoly.
ben: that’s the listverse for you – we are all incredibly civil here
Okay, so I got a little spat on while I was away by a guy coincidentally named Adam regarding a quote that Einstein said. Look, I wasn’t quoting verbatim, but since I have to now, here goes: “Science without religion is lame, Religion without science is blind.”
I hope that helps. I wouldn’t normally feel the need to jump back into a discussion, but i felt the need for vindication. It’s fun on occasion.
ben: haha, I was just reading the comments and thinking the same thing when I came to yours. I’ve had religious debates before and they almost always degrade into non-believers just cussing believers out and everyone repeating the same arguments.
I’m a Christian by the way, and this has actually revealed some theories I didn’t really know about before 5 minutes ago. The whole “God could have created Earth 10 minutes ago and you wouldn’t know” theory is interesting. Not saying that’s quite what I believe but it’s worth consideration. I also have always been torn, because I don’t consider science to be anti-religion or anything. And even though carbon dating isn’t always accurate, it isn’t so inaccurate as to mix up 6000 years with 65 million years. Cool list Jfrater.
I live under a Christian background, my values are too. And GOD gave me the intelligence to discover evolution as well as to see what backward steps are such as creationism. Also religion was created by men and women. And the entire universe by coincidence in matter, natural chemistry and natural physics and evolution.
Don´t walk backward with covered eyes please.
Recovering from a hyper-drive time warp phenomenon, the Jupiter II landed on Earth three billion years ago to find deutronium fuel. The nefarious Doctor Zachary Smith, always complaining about his aching back, had to take a healthy dump and left the ship with the Robot. All life on this green Earth evolved from his copious quantity of bodily waste, left on a barren beach. It washed into the sea, and the rest is history.