Tyrannosaurus rex

 Intro:

Nobody overcomes the king of the monsters, the formidable Tyrannosaurus rex wich means ''king of the tyrants lizards''.It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other tyrannosaurids. Fossils are found in a variety of rock formations dating to the last three million years of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 68 to 65 million years ago. It was among the last non-avian dinosaurs to exist prior to the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event.

Appearance:

In 2004, the scientific journal Nature published a report describing an early tyrannosauroid, Dilong paradoxus, from the famous Yixian Formation of China. As with many other theropods discovered in the Yixian, the fossil skeleton was preserved with a coat of filamentous structures which are commonly recognized as the precursors of feathers. It has also been proposed that Tyrannosaurus and other closely related tyrannosaurids had such protofeathers. However, skin impressions from large tyrannosaurid specimens show mosaic scales.While it is possible that protofeathers existed on parts of the body which have not been preserved, a lack of insulatory body covering is consistent with modern multi-ton mammals such as elephants, hippopotamus, and most species of rhinoceros. As an object increases in size, its ability to retain heat increases due to its decreasing surface area-to-volume ratio. Therefore, as large animals evolve in or disperse into warm climates, a coat of fur or feathers loses its selective advantage for thermal insulation and can instead become a disadvantage, as the insulation traps excess heat inside the body, possibly overheating the animal. Protofeathers may also have been secondarily lost during the evolution of large tyrannosaurids like Tyrannosaurus, especially in warm Cretaceous climates.

Fighting:

In the top of the food chain in it's region, the Tyrannosaurus rex eat herbivores dinosaurs like duck-billed hadrosaurus, but he also eat ceratopsians but he prefers rotting carcass of dinos because it was much easier than fighting to the death against a dinosaur that can kill you easily.So, the tyrannosaurus was not as stupid as it seemed to be, on the contrary, he was a very clever sauriquio thought very carefully before risking to the death.He rarelly fought against one another dino to be able to feed, he struggled against more dinos trying to attack or steal it, for example: A Nanotyrannus stealing food from the tyrannosaurus was not ignored but punished, he would have to fight the tyrannosaurus and would have only one option and who would leave the winner would have food and housing for his opponent, which was almost impossible to win the tyrannosaurus rex, this is one reason to fear him.T-Rex was relatively slow but agile; it would stay hidden and leap out to surprise its prey. Lacking vicious claws, it relied on its teeth, planting its feet and using its powerful neck and legs to stabilize itself and rip into its victim's flesh.

The Tyrannosaurus rex is very famous because it appears in several stories, films and is an attraction in our culture. Want proof? Well talk to palvra dinosaur to anyone you know and then ask what the first thing he thought, and thought that person will speak at rex, here are some films and games when the rex appear:

• In the movie of Steven Spielberg Jurassic Park (1993)
• In the book of Arthur Conan Doyle The lost world (1912)
• In the movie of Steven Spielberg The lost world: jurassic park (1997)
• In the movie of Joe Johnston Jurassic park 3(2001)
• In the game Zoo tycoon: dinosaur digs (2002)
• In the game Zoo tycoon 2: extinct animals (2007)
• In the tv series Jurassic fight club (2008)

Dodo

Intro:

The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter (3 feet) tall, weighing about 20 kilograms (44 lb), living on fruit, and nesting on the ground.

The dodo has been extinct since the mid-to-late 17th century.It is commonly used as the archetype of an extinct species because its extinction occurred during recorded human history and was directly attributable to human activity.

The phrase "dead as a dodo" means undoubtedly and unquestionably dead, whilst the phrase "to go the way of the dodo" means to become extinct or obsolete, to fall out of common usage or practice, or to become a thing of the past.

Appearance:

The dodo existed when the cameras didn't. So, for long human beings had to depend upon the paintings and written descriptions of this bird provided by the early naturalists, explorers and the 17th century European painters. The paintings by European artists which became more popular than the early drawings, depicted the bird as being 3 feet tall and quite robust. However, credibility of these paintings is now largely doubted due to the trend of exaggeration in depicting animals and birds that was prevalent in Europeans arts during 17th century. Until 2007, only fragments of dodo skeleton were available. However, with the discovery of a complete skeleton by some adventurers in a cave in Mauritius in the 2007, it has now being estimated that the bird did stand about 3 feet tall and weighed somewhere around 44 pounds. As per these statistics, the bird was definitely big, but surely not as overweight as was portrayed by the European painters. The bird is known to have a 9 inch long bill with pointed hook, grayish plumage, yellow legs, small wings and a tuft of small feathers towards its hind quarters.


Extinction:

The dodo birds were perfectly evolved for their environment. What led to their extinction is again the old story, i.e human activity. The dodo birds had never been threatened on their native land. This made them lack any caution when they first saw humans. They did not run away from human beings or the cats, dogs and pigs that the earliest settlers brought to the island. This made them easy prey for the animals. Their vulnerability was further exposed due to the fact that they built their nests on the ground. In fact, a number of different types of birds have been wiped out from the face of this earth because they built nest on the ground. Although, it is believed that large scale hunting of the bird is also one of the causes of its extinction, many scholars today refute this hypothesis. It is because, in many reports of the early settlers and explorers, the bird meat has been said to be tough and not very palatable. But it is for sure it is human activity, either direct or indirect, that is responsible for the extinction of this bird.

In popular culture:

The dodo became famous just because the book of the Lewis Caroll "Alice in wonderland",but it was not only that, we can see the Dodo in:

• The documentary Extinct (2001)


• Animated short film Porky in wackyland (1938)


• The pc game Zoo tycoon 2 extinct animals (2007)


• The film Alice in wonderland (1951)


• Again in the Tim burton movie Alice in wonderland (2010)


• The book The last dodo (2007)


• Tv commercial 5 alive dancing dodo (2010)