Fascinating Dinosaurs of 2014

        For past years dinosaurs have extremely impacted out world. Scientists have been highly interested at how dinosaurs used to live and what shaped their life. Although dinosaurs were extinct many million years, people are still intrigued about news from these fascinating creatures. Dinosaurs have impacted the year of 2014. There are many worldwide news about dinosaurs that captured our attention this year. 
    2014 has for sure been an amazing year for paleontologists. They were able to discover, and find remains on of the biggest dinosaur or animal to ever cross Earth (figure 1). Paleontologists say, “Fossilized bones of a dinosaur believed to be the largest creature ever to walk the Earth have been unearthed in Argentina.” According to BBC Science and Environment News, this majestic creature is 40m long and 20m tall. It also weighs 77 tones, which is about as 14 African elephants…pretty large. Precisely, a local farm worker in the desert near La Flech; which is around 250km away from Patagonia has found this kind of dinosaur and its remains. Scientists believe that this giant herbivore dates back from the Late Cretaceous period; which was about 95 to 100 million years ago. Despite the fact that this creature amazes each one of us, the name of it has not been given yet. "It will be named describing its magnificence and in honor to both the region and the farm owners who alerted us about the discovery," the researchers said. This dinosaur is actually a specific type of a tinanosaur; which is a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs. Titanosaurs are usually the biggest kinds of dinosaurs known. The previous record holder of the biggest dinosaur was given to the Argentinosaurus, which was also discovered in Patagonia. What causes a problem for scientists is the inability to be positively sure at the weight or height of a certain dinosaur. This is because it is really hard to find every single of the dinosaur’s bones. For this reason, it is hard to determine the exact measurements of a dinosaur. There are several methods or ways for calculating a dinosaur’s weight; for example its overall volume or various limb bone measurements. Although more material is needed to fully approve these gatherings, so far this no name herbivore from Patagonia is the biggest dinosaur ever to be recorded.

Figure 1- an illustration of the biggest dinosaur 

Figure 2- the feathery dinosaur 

Figure 3- Qijianglong guiki, the long necked dinosaur

Of course, none of us have seen a dinosaur but most probably all of us have an idea of what this creature looks like. We know they are greenish, have the lizard kind of pointy tail and of course we know they are pretty damn large. But what paleontologists from Siberia suspect is, that a dinosaur’s look is fairly different than that. A team of researchers has discovered a new dinosaur with thin feathers. More precisely what this team has found is the first non-carnivorous dinosaur with feathers. (figure 2) This kind of dinosaur is called Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus says Natural Sciences. It is about a meter long with very large legs and a long tail, but short arms. Because of the fossils found, it could be told that the Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus had feathers on the neck and the torso. Back in 1990, Chinese groups have found feathers on dinosaurs, but all of them have been therpods, such as the Tyrannosaurus rex. But they have been carnivores unlike the newly discovered dinosaur. "Probably more of them had feathers but those feathers were not fossilized," Godefriot, the leader of the team told The Verge. "Potentially, all dinosaurs could be covered with feathers." Evidence, which is the most important, is unfortunately missing. Feathers are not a part of fossils. This is either because they have decomposed through time or because they simply just weren’t there. “Paleontologists had been assuming the creatures were featherless for evolutionary reasons — but if theropods and the new Kulindadromeus developed feathers independently, hundreds of other species could potentially have taken the same route” says the Verge. If these theories about the dinosaurs are actually true then for sure the viewpoint and thought we have on dinosaurs are different. Hopefully in the future things such as this will be determined.

A 50-foot long dinosaur has been discovered in Qijang City, China. What is unique about this dinosaur called Qijianglong guokr is its neck, which makes up half of its body (figure 3). The construction workers came upon the remains of this dinosaur, managing to unearth the dinosaur’s head which was still attached to its enormous neck. “It is rare to find a head and neck of a long necked dinosaur together because the head is so small and easily detached after the animal dies.” says Tetsuto Miyashita. Because of this it is quite fascinating that paleontologists were able to dig up such creature. It rarely happens that animal ruins of this kind are discovered. According to Discovery, most dinosaurs have necks that are one third of their bodies, because of that this dinosaur fascinates many. Researched found out one very interesting thing about Qijianglong guokr. They determined that its vertebrae were filled with air which made it fairly light in weight compared to other. Scientists also predict that the neck of this creature as moving better up and down rather than side to side. This could have impacted a lot on their adaptations to their surroundings. What could have caused the isolation of this dinosaur is the sea or some other natural barrier. Although this long necked dinosaur was a survivor, it clearly did have slight problems adapting. This did not stop it from being one of the most fascinating dinosaurs ever discovered.
The reason why these three news stories are important is because they show one of the most important discoveries about the creatures that fascinate all human beings the most. Children are especially the ones who are the most eager to learn about dinosaurs. The history of dinosaurs and their look itself is what mostly interests each one of us. Dinosaurs were the dominant life form for more than 160 million years ago. To kids, adults and people of any age, dinosaurs left a huge mark and more importantly the ability to dream and picture how they look. They basically dissapeared overnight by a meteor and to us are still known as the most fascinating creatures ever to walk our Earth. 

Bibliography  

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27441156

https://www.naturalsciences.be/en/content/news-fossils-found-siberia-suggest-all-dinosaurs-had-feathers

http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/24/5933949/a-new-fossil-suggests-dinosaurs-may-have-had-feathers

http://news.discovery.com/animals/dinosaurs/50-foot-long-dragon-dinosaur-unearthed-in-china-150130.htm