Intro
<p><em>Triceratops</em> ate plants. <a alt="((CONLINK|1132|Tyrannosaurus%20rex))" href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/1132-what-tyranosaurus-rex-ate-dinosaur.html">Tyrannosaurus rex</a> had short arms. <em>Brontosaurus</em> is really <em>apatosaurus</em>. That may be enough dinosaur knowledge to get you through a round of "Jeopardy!" or Trivial Pursuit, but in recent years, paleontologists have turned up many more surprising dinosaur facts.</p>
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<p>We spoke with Mark A. Norell, the American Museum of Natural History's chairman and curator of the museum's division of paleontology, about the most surprising and little-known dinosaur facts. Here's a sneak peek: Baby dinosaurs were really cute.</p>
Pigeon-sized dinosaur
<p>Although the museum's new exhibit focuses on large dinosaurs, not all dinosaurs were massive – some species were actually pretty small. In fact, "many were cat – or even pigeon-size," Norell said. The smallest known pterodactyl, the <em>Nemicolopterus crypticus</em> (discovered in 2008), had a <a href="http://www.livescience.com/2288-tiny-pterodactyl-fossil.html">wingspan of only 10 inches</a>.</p>
Growth spurts
<p>Dinosaurs grew relatively quickly. The <em>mamenchisaurus</em>, for example, a four-legged, <a href="http://www.livescience.com/6263-dinosaur-tots-baby-faced.html">plant-eating dinosaur</a> with a long neck that made up half of its total 70-foot body length, took only about30 years to grow to adult size.</p>
Fluffy dinos
<p>While most illustrations of dinosaurs depict them as having scaly or thick, leathery skin similar to that of modern-day elephants, it was actually common for dinosaurs to have protofeathers, or a <a href="http://www.livescience.com/3410-feathers-tied-origin-dinosaurs.html">feather-like covering</a>. Protofeathers weren't necessarily a marker for flight, however, as flightless dinos including the <em>velociraptor</em> and <em>beipiaosaurus</em> had downy fluff but no wings.</p>
Long in the tooth
<p>At approximately 45 feet long and 14,000 pounds, the <a alt="((CONLINK|1132|T.%20rex))" href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/1132-what-tyranosaurus-rex-ate-dinosaur.html">T. rex</a> – one of the largest land carnivores of all time – must have looked pretty imposing based on its size alone. But this massive monster also boasted the longest teeth. Including the root, a <em>T. rex</em>'s tooth can be nearly 10 inches long, or the length of an iPad. With 50 to 60 of those enormous teeth set in its 4-foot-long jaw, the <em>T. rex</em> could bite off 500 pounds in a single chomp – about the weight of an adult male tiger.</p>
Piecing it together
<p>Only one complete or even partial dinosaur skeleton is needed in order to <a href="http://www.livescience.com/12946-thunder-thighs-dinosaur-brontomerus.html">identify an entirely new species</a>. "Almost half of the 1,200 or so dinosaurs that have been named are known from unique single specimens," Norell said.</p>
They roam among us
<p>"Dinosaurs are not extinct – we just call them birds," Norell said. "In fact, birds are more closely <a alt="((CONLINK|133|related%20to%20dinosaurs))" href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/133-what-do-turkeys-and-t-rex-have-in-common.html">related to dinosaurs</a> like the <em>T.rex </em>than the <em>T.rex</em> is to <em>sauropods</em> like the <em>mamenchisaurus</em>."</p>
Baby face
<p>Like most baby animals, <a href="http://www.livescience.com/6263-dinosaur-tots-baby-faced.html">dinosaur tots were baby-faced</a>. In 2010, researchers found the skull of a juvenile plant-eating dinosaur that suggested that some young dinosaurs had proportionally larger eyes and smaller, cuter faces than their parents.</p>
<p><em>Got a question? <a href="mailto:llmquestions@gmail.com">Send us an email</a> and we'll crack it.<span class="system-pagebreak"> Follow Remy Melina on Twitter </span><a class="system-pagebreak" href="https://twitter.com/RemyMelina" style="color: #1b57b1; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal;">@RemyMelina</a></em></p>
