Dinosaurs seen in jurassic park

The other day my sis was watching Jurassic Park for the first time on TV and was bothering me all the time asking about these giant reptiles who romped on the earth millions of years ago. Let me talk about them in my blog today.

Brachiosaurus ! It's the one that startled Dr. Alan Grant and the kids who were resting on a giant tree. It was the largest of all the sauropods i.e dinosaurs with long necks. It ate plants!

Remember the dinosaurs that ran in packs in the movie, when Grant and kids had to hide themselves behind a log. It's Gallimimus ! Now, this is a small theropod i.e. meat eating dinosaur.

Then comes Velociraptor, the large theropods  which made mess of the whole kitchen. Velociraptors were digitigrades, the animals that walk on toes, unlike us who are platigrades, who walk on the soles of the feet! The other living digitigrades are jackals, dogs and wolves!

Of course any piece of writing on dinosaurs cannot complete without mentioning about the grand T-Rex! It is the one who saves Grant and others from the raptors and gives a victorious roar to reach the crescendo. T-Rex (aka Tyrannosaurus) were one of the ferocious bipedals of the Cretaceous period. Cretaceous period followed Jurassic period, which in turn followed Triassic period! Cretaceous period saw the extinction of the dinosaurs!

Image: domdeen / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Now, let me give you a shocker - the dinosaurs were warm blooded creatures unlike modern reptiles that are cold blooded. Sounds botherly!

Considering vegan?

By all means, go on! Something that will inspire you is here -

A recent study has shown that some crocodilians like American alligators [Alligator missisipiensis] and caimans  [Caiman crocodilus] have been observed to take foliage and fruits along with their normal diet of meat. :-)

Image: Michael Elliott / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Changing colours!

How do creatures blend themselves with the environment?And why?

Creatures blend in the environment either to hide from predators or to hide themselves so that they can catch their prey.

Let me mention some of the creatures who try to hide themselves from predators -
The desert red bat normally tries to hide by blending itself with the dead leaves of trees in the forest to trick predators. Many amphibians and reptiles are skilled in changing colours. Even the skins of various animals acts as a protection. For example, the stripes of a zebra are useful to blend itself in the dry savannas of Africa from big cats.

The most prominent of all creatures which blend in their surroundings to catch their prey are all the ferocious meat eating cats like tiger,panther and lion. They have such type of coats to easily blend in the environment which helps in catching their prey. Even many reptiles like chameleon ,alligator and crocodile camouflage with their environment only to catch their prey. The best known example is that of a polar bear.This bear blends itself with the arctic snow so that it can get ready to grab seals with its paws.

Image: Hal Brindley / FreeDigitalPhotos.net