| That they were the dinosaurios? |
The word dinosaurio is composed by "deinos" the greek words and "sauros", that mean lizards (or also dragoons, according to the dictionary) terrible. In principle, the word dinosaurio served to denominate all those terrestrial reptiles of great dimensions, with skeletal characteristics determined, and that they lived throughout all the era Mesozoica or Secundaria, it was that it began about 230 million ago years and finalized about 65 million ago years.
In spite of it, all the dinosaurios were not animals with giant bodies, also were them smaller, with a length little superior to the 70 cm. Existed herbívoras and carnivorous forms, first, generally, walked to four legs, whereas second, all were biped, that is to say, that was transferred much more with the two later legs, developed. |
| Dinosaurios herbívoros |
| The vegetarian dinosaurios, do not tenian sharp teeth, and even, and times, very few, as it is the case of the group of the saurópodos, animals of long neck and tail. The teeth aparecian delantet to them of the mouth, whereas in other groups, eren almost numerous and distributed from half of maxilares i jaws. In the group dels hadrosáuros is podian to enter up to 1,200 small teeth in all the mouth. Mayoria was to walk quadruped, although, in smaller degree, also those existian that podian to move with the two legs of back, greater is developed like, for example, "iguanodontes" and the "hadrosáuridos" ones. |
| Dinosaurios carnivorous |
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They were animals with a great head, in proportion to the body, of triangular form from from the nose to the nape of the neck. The mouth was full of acute and curved teeth towards the throat, with the sawed sides. They had a short, very robust neck and the dumpy body; the short front legs and with claws in the fingers, whereas the later ones were much more great, and with which walked. The tail was as long as the rest of the body, and them Serbian of counterbalance, since the center of gravity of the animal was located in the coxal. |
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| Where the dinosaurios lived? |
| The dinosaurios conquered practically all territories of the planet. Its expansion was favored by the fact that, during many million years, the continents formed an only denominated block "Pangea", that with the passage of million years went fragmenting until drawing present geography. |
| When the dinosaurios lived? |
| The dinosaurios appeared during the Triásico period, first of the era Mesozoica, it makes about 230 million years, and their disappearance number in about 65 million years back, at the end of the Cretáceo period. The total of its its existence in the extreme planet, then, about 165 million years, everything a record. The history of the man "only "counts with about 3 million years, reason why, in comparison, the dinosaurios were a great success of pervivencia. |
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During these 165 million years, they existed a great diversity of forms, some, as already there are saying, of very small measurement, whereas others reached to about 40 meters in length.
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| As we know of its existence? |
| Nothing we had known of the dinosaurios -nor of other creatures-, but for fossils. These are, then, the only testimonies that speak of these béstias to us. Their petrified rest consist, generally, in bones, but also their tracks, nidadas and excrements have arrived us, of abundant form, as to constitute a new discipline of denominated study dinosauriología. Sometimes the deposit where the rest of the dinosaurios rest keeps other data from great scientific value like, for example, stone accumulations in the zone where was the belly, that, like one molleja, it helped them to digest, or conserved food vestiges that allow us to know part their nourishing habits. |
| As they were extinguished? |
| According to the last theories, the collision of one or several meteorites with the Earth, makes about 65 million years, caused the beginning of its extinction. The force of the impact of an extraterrestrial bolide of about 10 kilometers from diameter to the sea, would cause a deyección of material and steam to the atmosphere, of grandísimas proportions, with the highest increase of the temperatures that would cause extensive fires, a strong transmission of smoke, acidas and ash-gray rains that would darken the solar light. In addition to, gigantic tsunamis (giant waves) they would destroy to the coasts entering itself several kilometers in the continents. The marine trófica chain was timid tremendously, causing a truely important biological imbalance. |
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Photo of Joan Escuer. (Clicad to see the greatest image).
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One calculates that a 60-65% of the living species, was extinguished of the Earth. The dinosaurios were the victims, even though did not disappear all by the impact, but by its consequences, that lasted years.
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| Have descendants the dinosaurios? |
| In the last years, the studies on dinosaurios i the most primitive birds, indicate one narrow relation between both species, more and more reaffirmed by encuntro of new vestiges. The fosil of known older bird has been the denominated Archaeopteryx , discovered in German quarries for more of a century. One is a skeleton of dinosaurio with pens. Recently, they have recovered of a deposit of China, fossils of small dinosaurios with pens in the arms but of a so short measurement that they served to them to fly. Other characteristics of the bones make see in him the origin of dinosaurio. In Spain we have two very important deposits, from which rest of birds have arisen that indicate the kinship to us bird-dinosaurio: in Cocaine, with an antiquity of 115 million year, and in Lleida, more concretely in the Montsec, with 125 million years. The birds of nowadays, are, partly, formidable relatives very evolved of those béstias. |
| Whichever dinosaurios lived in the planet? |
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The fossils gathered until today anywhere in the world, are not but, a poor sample of the number of dinosaurios that inhabited the planet. Until now 920 sorts have been catalogued about that represent near 1,500 species, although is certain that every year they are of new. These numbers are not representative since, if we divided the species mentioned by the 165 million years that lived, provides the number to us of 10 species by each million years, which, obviously, is irrelevant, since, with complete certainty, many had to exist more. It is necessary to stand out that all the dead beings do not get to fossilize. The fosilización process is very selective and requires of a series of very strict conditions to be able to preserve itself. Without no doubt, the dinosaurios were million that populated the planet. |
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| That it is the fosilización? |
| It is the process by which, the rest of an organism, printing or vestige, it gets to preserve itself until us. This process, in general terms, begins when the animal or plant dies and has, next, the possibility of being buried by sediments. The process is been worth or is tracks, footsteps, or other despoliation. This interment can occur at heart of lakes, marshes and seas, where the creatures lived. Once buried, the corpse undergoes the decomposition process. However, to per its consistency, the bones and the hardest parts they can resist more times this destructive attack. The waters that filter by the sediments in where are buried despoliation, contribute minerals which they are filling pores, holes and cavities of the bones, petrifying them. Locked up in this tomb, the rest remain and comprise of rocks indefinitely, conserving themselves until some geologic processes, like the erosion, put them again outdoors, initiating this way their destruction, of not being found and being gathered by the paleontólogo. Many fossils have disappeared by these processes before the man appeared on the Earth. |
| The primitive man coexisted with the dinosaurios? |
| No, never. As we have already said before, the appearance of the man goes back to about three million years. However the dinosaurios disappeared of the Earth makes sixty and five million years. It leaves us well clear that they did not agree at any moment. |
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| Places of the province of Lérida in which the dinosaurios lived |
| The deposits of the province of Lleida in which have been rest of dinosaurios, come from sediments of about a 70-85 ago million years and include the places of Isona, Basturs, Orcau, Sant Romà d'Abella, Millà, Mata of the Viudà, Fontllonga, Figuerola de Meià, the Massana, Vallderiet, Coll de Nargó, etc. These places have contributed to fragments of bones, tracks, nidadas and eggs of "herbívoros" dinosaurios of four legs, with a long neck and tail (titanosáuridos) and of carnivores (dromeosáuridos, megalosáuridos), as well as of duck tip (hadrosáuros). |
| That dinosaurios they lived in the province of Lleida? |
| Until the moment, the fossils of dinosaurios exhumados in the province of Lleida are not very abundant, and a whole skeleton has never recovered. However, these testimonies speak to us of quadruped dinosaurios, as those of I generate isolated Hypselosaurus and vertebrae that belong to titanosauros recognized in Isona and Fontllonga. They were, like the saurópodos, animals of long neck, small head, long tail, legs and body elefantíno. Other fossils indicate the presence of hadrosauros, dinosaurios with the form of duck tip, herbívoros like the titanosáuros, but that, they could walk to four legs, as also they could do it with the two later ones, since the advantages were smaller. Pararhadodon i Orthomerus are sorts of hadrosáuros discovered in territories of Isona and Tremp. The zone of Millà, has contributed femurs fragmented of these creatures. With regards to the carnivores, few are the recovered rest, although that several teeth small, and more or less whole, make reference to dromeosauros, predators of not more than three meters than remember the Velociraptor and Deinonychus. On the other hand, some little rest have been attributed megalosáuridos, béstias very great, with a design similar to the Allosaurus of the Jurásico. With the exhumation of teeth of ankylosauros, in addition to other fragments and vertebrae, in the zone of Fontllonga, the inventory of the dinosaurios in Lleida is completed. |
| That they say the tracks to us? |
The tracks (been above) fossilized (dinoicnites) are testimonies done in life of the animal. They allow us to calculate some measures, from his his height to the coxal, as well as the possible speed of the march. Them footsteps of the Massana (Camarassa-Fontllonga) are round, with diameters that oscillate between the 25 to the 60 cm., thing that draw a height to us of the bones of the later leg from 1 meter to the 2.40 m.s At those moments, the Earth was very humeda, like beaches of a lake, that produced
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Photo of Joan Escuer.(Clicad to see the greatest image).
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soft mud that was stepped on by those great animals. According to the plasticity of the mud, the track podia to be more or less or printed in mud, which allows the conservation of important details of the feet, like for example, the fingers or the nails. However, although the cpondiciones of the moment were good, és possible that the tracks were destroyed before getting to fossilize. The enormous pressión exerted on the ground by the passage of the dinosaurios, not only affects the fangosa superfície, sinó that afectà also to deeper layers. "dinoicnites" of the Massana does not keep any detail from fingers and urpas, and is attributed to herbívoros quadruped dinosaurios with a long neck and an also long tail, possibly of |
group of the titanosáuridos ones, on which they lived in Europe in those days. Their teeth were small in tiny stake form that was implanted in front of the mouth and not by the rest of maxilares. One assumes that the dinosaurios that produced the tracks in the Massana, were pastando, since the made studies have not discovered any track of step, but tracks of footsteps rather. In lands of Isona and the Vall of Àger, footsteps with the mark of three fingers exist that could belong to "hadrosauros" by the presence of bones related to these animals. The age of "dinoicnites" is of about 70 million years. The science that studies the signs, tracks and tracks denominates: Icnología.
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| As it were the province of Lleida does about a 70-85 million years? |
| A coast existed from Isona and the mountain of Sant Corneli, to the environs of Balaguer. To the west was the opened sea, Isona and Tremp were under waters and in beaches near Basturs, and also of Coll de Nargó, have been found thousand of egg rinds between them reddish and gray sands, that the dinosaurios deposited to incubate them. All these earth enjoyed a tropical climate with zones of manglares, palms and ferns by where lived dinosaurios, crocodiles and turtles. Neither the Pyrenees, nor the Montsec existed and all the zone was furrowed to per rivers i marshes. |
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Text and documentation of Antoni Lacasa
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