What Are Dinosaurs Essay

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Life Before Humans
Over 65 million years ago, dinosaurs roamed and ruled the Earth. They were the top predators and where in an abundance of species. Today, scientist unearth their fossils and put them together to create an image of a lifetime. Even though no one was around when they were alive, we have an idea of what they looked like. If you have ever seen a dinosaur, you would probably think that they all were big giants that ate everything in sight! Although that is true, dinosaurs did eat almost everything, they weren’t all that big. Some of the dinosaurs that were recently discovered, were only the size of a domesticated chicken!

What Are Dinosaurs?
Dinosaurs were a diverse group of animals of the clade Dinosauria. In the Triassic period, 231.4 million years ago, the first dinosaurs appeared. They were the Herrerasaurus and the Eoraptor. They were the first (but not
Most scientists wonder if dinosaurs were affected by the same diseases and viruses that humans face today. Some of the fossils that they have found, showed signs of deformations that may have been caused by arthritis, cancer, or infection. Sense there were no veterinarians way back then, it was hard to tell what kind of different diseases or viruses that happened when dinosaurs were around. Modern reptiles are cousins to the dinosaurs, crocodiles are among the most ferocious reptiles alive today. Reptiles suffer from fewer diseases than warm-blooded animals, but reptiles do get sick. For example, an epidemic of Entamoeba invadens caused by the parasite amoebas swept through the London Zoo and killed a large number of reptiles and snakes. Many amphibians and reptiles have a gland, the Harderian gland, next to their eyes that washes excess salt out of their bodies. The glands form droplets sometimes called "crocodile tears." These glands can become infected, sometimes causing the animal to lose its sight, and snakes can get parasites from tick

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