About Sharon Judith
A humanities and Science student, Sharon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a specialization in Psychology, Economics, and Sociology from Mount Carmel College and is currently pursuing her Master's in Science from Bournemouth University. She is passionate about research, content writing, and development, and has a keen interest in international finance and economics. With her strong analytical skills and inquisitive mind, she is always striving to deepen her knowledge and understanding of these subjects.
Family interest
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- Bachelor of Arts specializing in Psychology
- Economics
- and Sociology
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Fun Pliosaurus Facts For Kids
The Pliosaurus was a new species of marine reptile that swam in seas about 190 million years ago, during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous period. Fossil remains of this large species were first discovered and named by Richard Owens in 1842.
Its name means 'Pliocene lizard' in Greek. Pliosaurs are known today by eight different, independent species named Pliosaurus brachyspondylus, Pliosaurus carpenteri, Pliosaurus funkei (also known as predator X or P. funkei), Pliosaurus kevani, Pliosaurus macromerus (P. macromerus), Pliosaurus brachydeirus (P. brachydeirus), Pliosaurus westburyensis, and Pliosaurus rossicus.
It has given its name to a whole family of marine reptiles!
The fossils of each of these species have been discovered in many countries. Species P. kevani, P. westburyensis, P. macromerus, P. brachydeirus, and P. carpenteri have been discovered in England.
Pilosaurus funkei, popularly known in the media as 'Predator X', is known from two fossil specimens located in Norway. P. rossicus, an outside type species of the Pliosaurs group, was discovered in Russia.
Pliosaurs were closely related to Plesiosaurs in appearance however Plesiosaurs were long-necked.
This huge Pliosaur could be identified by its massive body, large head with powerful jaws, short neck, and a long snout containing conical sharp teeth. To date, the largest pliosaur fossils to have been discovered are from Svalbard, Norway and the Pliosaur was none other than the 'Predator X' specimen, possibly passing as giant predators of the sea.
This 'Predator X' was discovered by a well-known Norwegian paleontologist named Dr. Jorn Hurum from the Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo.
Paleontologists, through years of studying, have concluded the Pliosaurus bite force was huge due to its relatively short neck but big long snout.
The Norwegian Journal Of Geology has described some dolphin-like reptiles, two Ichthyosaurs, a pliosaurus with a long neck, pliosaurus teeth, and some invertebrates. They had a piscivorous diet and fed on a variety of fish, their long mouth and sharp teeth making it easy to bite into their prey.
Some scientists have also declared that these marine reptile species from the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous period could have possibly been more intelligent and smarter than sharks!
If you'd like to discover more interesting facts on similar animals, check out our Heterodontosaurus interesting facts for kids or Ludodactylus amazing facts that you're sure to enjoy!
Fun Thescelosaurus Facts For Kids
The Thescelosaurus or Thescelosaurus saurian was a bipedal ornithopod that appeared in the Late Cretaceous period about 77-65 million years ago until it became extinct around 66 million years ago when the catastrophic Cretaceous-Tertiary took place.
It was first named by John Bell Hatcher and William H. Utterback in 1891. Although the first fossil remains of this specimen were discovered towards the end of the 19th century, it was initially described by Charles W. Gilmore in 1915.
Currently, there are three type species of these dinosaurs which are T. neglectus, T. garbanii, and T. assiniboiensis.
Often described to be a hypsilophodont, modern scientists have stated otherwise by concluding that the only thing they shared in common was the fact that they were ornithopod dinosaurs.
The fossil material of these herbivorous dinosaurs found to date includes many compact Thescelosaurus skulls, some Thescelosaurus caudal vertebra, and partial skeletons. From studying these fossils, many paleontologists indicate that they would have preferred living near streams.
William J. Morris, another paleontologist, interpreted that this dinosaur must have had some sort of armor on its body called scutes and was also recognized for its robust build.
This genus of ornithopod dinosaur was noted to be a specialized basal species.
Heavily built, this dinosaur was bipedal which meant although having four limbs, it could walk on only two!
Held by a strong but not long neck, the Thescelosaurus skull was small as it had a small head that portrayed the appearance of muscular cheeks. Many scientists suggested that these cheeks would have kept the food inside their mouth and could have made chewing much easier.
The mouth had six pairs of small teeth present but the front part had pointed teeth that were leaf-shaped and accommodated a horny beak.
This beak would have aided the animal in tearing up tough plants.
The long tail of this small animal gave it balance when running or walking and contained ossified bone structures or tendons from the tip to the middle. A specimen named 'Willo' was recently excavated in South Dakota in 1993, which created a lot of media frenzy since it was interpreted to have a fossilized heart!
You can find the complete skeleton of this dinosaur at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in North Carolina or the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, both in the United States.
If you'd like to learn more interesting facts on similar dinosaurs, check out our Xenotarsosaurus amazing facts for kids or Chungkingosaurus fun facts for kids that you're sure to love!
Fun Gracilisuchus Facts For Kids
Gracilisuchus (wildlife animal) was a very small relative of the crocodile species that exist today.
These small pseudosuchians (a group that includes crocodilian ancestors) lived in the Middle Triassic or maybe even Late Triassic period of Argentina and their fossil remains were discovered in the 1970s in the Chañares Formation. It was discovered by Alfred S. Romer (1972) and his colleagues when they went on an expedition to this site.
Along with a dermal armor having dorsal scutes over them in rows and small forelimbs, this genus of the Gracilisuchidae family was found in a slab along with the remains of Lagosuchus, its dinosaur ancestor.
Agustinia Lecuona and Julia Desojo declared a length of 11 in (28 cm) for the body without the tail and hip.
A paper that came out recently after intensive analysis has placed this dinosaur in a new family called Gracilisuchus, clubbing them with the Turfanosuchus and Yonghesuchus.
It was also believed that This basal extinct genus was initially thought to have been a dinosaur but that hypothesis was rejected. The six known fossil specimens of Gracilisuchus were noted to include a femur, parts of the shoulder, some jawbones, vertebrae, a hind limb bone, paramedian osteoderms, and a skull.
Many bones of the Gracilisuchus extinct genus of the Suchia classification have been shifted to other genera groups as well.
This basal late Triassic reptile fauna displayed some interesting features.
The Gracilisuchus skeleton indicated that this dinosaur would have been able to walk on all four limbs. Since similar features are shared between the Sphenosuchia and Gracilisuchus, they might have come under a common clade of crocodylomorphs.
These Pseudosuchians (a group that includes the ancestors of crocodilians) were noted to have long bodies and crawled on the ground in search of food and these creatures had a carnivorous diet.
If you'd like to learn more about similar animals, check out our Palaeosaurus interesting facts for kids or Hungarosaurus fun facts that you're sure to love.
Fun Scelidotherium Facts For Kids
The Scelidotherium species that belonged to the Scelidotheriinae family existed in various of South and North America around 0.67 million years ago. The Scelidotheriinae family contains the most diverse clades of Tardigrada.
In 1889, it was put into the family Scelidotheriidae by Ameghino but in 1988, it was assigned to the Mylodontidae by Carroll.
In 1995, Gaudin and Zurita reassigned it to Scelidotheriinae subfamily.
It was only recently that they were assigned to full family status by Preslee. So, from this, these extinct ground sloths were constantly removed and put into different groups throughout history.
They were an extinct genus of ground sloths that came from the Mylodontidae family and may have lived between the Middle Pleistocene epoch to the Late Pleistocene period. The fossil distribution of this ground sloth indicated they might have been endemic to Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Panama.
It was first reported by Charles Darwin in his journal named 'The Voyage of the Beagle' about some perfect fossil material which was Scelidotherium when he was traveling in 1832 on land from Bahía Blanca to Buenos Aires.
He went on to club it in the same group as Megatherium.
It was Owen in 1840 who recognized the fossils and named it 'Scelidotherium' which meant 'femur beast' to denote the unique proportions of the skeletal structure and elements.
Scientists have speculated that humans or 'homo sapiens' were responsible for the demise of ground sloths but this theory is yet to be proven as there was no physical evidence or data to base this speculation.
There is not much information available on how these extinct mammals from the mammalian superorder called would have looked xenarthra would have looked. This sloth that belonged to the genera of Megatherium and Mylodon were believed to have had four toes and a lot of hair!
Scientists and paleontologists all over the world are still trying to understand Scelidotherium giant sloth evolution and phylogeny.
If you'd like to learn more on similar mammalia, check out our Mylodon fun facts for kids or Glyptodon interesting facts for kids that you're sure to love!
Fun Saurolophus Facts For Kids
The Saurolophus was a herbivorous Ornithopoda hadrosaurid that lived about 70 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period towards the end of the Mesozoic era. Their fossil remains were discovered in the Red Deer River in Alberta, Canada by Barnum Brown in the year 1911.
It was Mr. Barnum Brown who also gave the name for this dinosaur.
S. osborni was a type species and was described by Barnum Brown from Canadian fossils in 1912. In fact, it was one of the few dinosaurs whose almost complete fossil material is known from different countries, along with the skin impressions.
Later on, a certain second specimen has also been identified in parts of Mongolia and China as Saurolophus angustirostris. These giant dinosaurs of the Reptilia classification were duck-billed and identified with a crest or spike on their head.
This was also why these dinosaurs were given the name 'Saurolophus' as it was greek for 'lizard crest'.
Saurolophus skeleton greatly resembled the skeletons of other hadrosaurids. They had short front limbs while the legs at the back were long, strong, and well-built.
The long tail of this hadrosaurid provided balance when walking or running and was off the ground. The Saurolophus skull structure was quite unique.
This plant-eating dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous had a toothless beak.
As mentioned earlier, the cranial crest on top of their head at a 45-degree angle was hollow, and many dinosaur enthusiasts are still trying to find out what exactly their function was and their uses could have been many.
One such speculation is that it was linked to a flap of skin that extended over the nostrils and could have been used for the purpose of attracting a mate or making loud noises.
They also stated that these dinosaurs were herbivores after studying the fossils of their teeth and mouth. The mouth was known to have organs that helped the Saurolophus dinosaur to keep the food in its mouth, similar to the cheeks of humans.
This allowed easy grinding of the food like plants, leaves, twigs, and so on.
From the discovery of this dinosaur's fossil materials, it was also found that they possessed certain bony eye rings that were very strange to paleontologists and scientists. Barnum Brown's discovery of this dinosaur can be seen in the American Museum of Natural History!
If you'd like to learn more about dinosaurs, check out our Homalocephale fun facts for kids or Ludodactylus interesting facts that are sure to keep you hooked!
Fun Scleropages Jardinii Facts For Kids
Frequently called the Australian bonytongue or Northern saratoga, the Scleropages jardinii of the Osteoglossinae classification is a freshwater fish that is native to the Northern Territory of Australia. There are plenty of names that these fishes go by.
Some of them include gulf barramundi, gulf saratoga, bony tongue, and Australian arowana.
These bony freshwater species are a silvery green color, taking on light red or pale pinkish spots making the body look like a pearl. Differing from its Australian relative, the spotted-barramundi (S. leichardti) by a more sloping head, downward-pointing barbels, and patterned gill covers, it tends to inhabit shallow, slow-moving waters.
Belonging to the Scleropages genus, this is a distinctive-looking fish that has a large, upturned mouth and chin barbels.
Each scale has been observed to have a reddish crescent-shaped mark. The distribution of the Australian arowana scattered throughout most of the Gulf of Carpentaria drainage system, west to the Adelaide River in the Northern Territory, throughout northern Queensland, and in New Guinea.
This Australian bony tongue species is a powerful swimmer and can be territorial, predatory, and aggressive toward tankmates. As a result, if you consider keeping this fish in an aquarium, great care must be taken.
Apart from the small size and duller color, they look very similar in appearance to the Asian arowanas. This is why, due to the shared similarities with Asian arowanas, they were often sold under the name of golden Arowana in many of the Asian countries.
Nonetheless, they can be identified from Asian arowanas by their fins with red spots and seven to eight scales on their body which are in a row.
These freshwater fishes are said to have a largely carnivorous diet feeding o aquatic and terrestrial insects, small fishes, mussels, shrimp, prawns, and crustaceans. However, they have been seen to consume certain plant matter as well.
If you'd like to discover some more similar fishes, check out our facts about kelp rockish and needlefish!
