The “surprise” fun in writing the Dinosaurs Living in MY Hair series has been learning cool information about dinosaurs. Early in my school visits, I quickly realized students know a lot of information about dinosaurs. Unfortunately, some of what they know, isn’t actually true. Jurassic Park movies don’t factually represent dinosaur truths. 😊
The above painting was created by Jorge Gonzalez, an artist from Argentina. I contacted him to gain permission to share his artwork with students. It’s an incredible piece of work! With his approval, I share with you today – a newly discovered dinosaur paleontologists have named iani smithi (pronounced (YAH-nee).
Iani Smithi
Found in the Cedar Mountain Formation in southern Utah
Estimated to live 100 million years ago
10-foot-long cousin of duck-billed dinosaurs
Herbivore
Robust teeth & powerful jaws
The plant-eater was an early (primitive) ornithopod and the first of its kind to be discovered in North America
Did you know on average, a new species of dinosaur is named approximately every two weeks from fossil sites all over the world?
Did you know experts hypothesize more dinosaurs remain unknown than have been uncovered?
It is estimated that paleontologists have found less than 30% of all non-avian dinosaurs.
Incredible.