Learn about the nature of Extinction with iMinds insightful knowledge series.
Extinction means the death of a species of animal or plant. When you think of extinct species, you probably think of dinosaurs. So it may amaze you to know that 99% of all species that once lived on the earth are now extinct!
Dinosaurs are the most well-known of all extinct creatures. Dinosaurs roamed the earth, graced the skies and swam through the water for about 140 million years, before they met their end some 65 million years ago. Their skeletons lay buried beneath the earth and they were forgotten about for millions of years. Then, large fossils were found between the 1670s and the 1820s. A number of British scientists, including a doctor called Gideon Mantell and a scholar called William Buckland, studied the large fossils and concluded they came from a huge reptile that Buckland named 'megalosaurus' or 'giant lizard'. As further study into large bone fossils took place, it became apparent that a whole group of giant lizards had actually once roamed the earth. These giant lizards were given the collective name of 'dinosauria', meaning 'terrible lizards'.
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