How really dinosaur was discovered?

Long ago, people found big bones buried in the ground. They had no idea these bones belonged to creatures called dinosaurs! People thought they were dragon bones. Some old books had pictures of the bones, but no one know, what they really were.

Earlier then, most of folks believed that the Earth was very young, just a few thousand years old. This made it hard to study fossils and rocks. But in the 1800s, scientists started finding clues that Earth was much older. They wondered if strange extinct creatures had once lived here.

In England, scientists found the first real dinosaur teeth and named Megalosaurus and Iguanodon. For a while, they thought these were just giant lizards. Not until 1842 did Sir Richard Owen realize these weren't lizards at all. He gave them the new name dinosaurs, meaning "terrible lizards."

Now the mystery was solving about these huge extinct creatures! In 1850, the first dinosaur models were built in London's Crystal Palace park. People were amazed by the dinosaur sculptures. Scientists even held a dinner party inside a dinosaur model!

Around the same time, the first whole dino skeletons were found - little fellows like Scelidosaurus and Compsognathus. Then came an incredible discovery - Archaeopteryx, a dinosaur with feathers like a bird!

Meanwhile, Charles Darwin wrote his famous book about evolution. Scientist Thomas Huxley realized Compsognathus and Archaeopteryx were closely related dinos. Clearly, dinosaurs had evolved into birds!

In America, new dinosaur fossils started turning up out West. Two scientists, Edward Cope and Charles Marsh, got into a "Bone Wars" competition to find dinosaurs. Who could discover the most new species?

Thanks to them, many famous dinos were found like Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus, Triceratops and mighty T-Rex! People went nuts for these monster reptiles. Dino paintings and movies like King Kong made them hugely popular.

But some scientists started thinking dinos were dumb failures. They believed dinosaurs went extinct because they couldn't adapt. Does is really true?

New discoveries kept coming. In the deserts of Mongolia and China, explorer Roy Chapman Andrews unearthed oviraptor nests with eggs. People mistakenly thought it stole dino eggs, but it was caring for its own! More feathered dinos and early birds connecting the evolution dots were found.

After World War II, scientists studied how fast dinos grew and how they walked and ran. John Ostrom realized dinos like Deinonychus were fierce and smart, not sluggish lizards. He re-ignited the idea that dinos evolved into birds.

The "Dino Renaissance" led to new ways of envisioning dinos as quick and agile, not clumsy. When fossils with traces of feathers and nesting sites were found, it was clear dinos were bird ancestors, not separate.

Then a meteor impact theory explained why dinos went extinct so suddenly. It wasn't failed evolution after all!

Dino Mania was as big as ever. New Jurassic Park movies and books inspired public fascination with dinosaurs. As museum exhibits got more advanced, the science boomed too.

Now paleontologists all over the world were making fresh discoveries. Dino fossils were turning up on every continent and clues kept surfacing about dino colors, speed, nested babies and migration patterns.

China became the hotspot for game-changing fossils in places like the Yixian Formation. There, entire feathered dinosaur specimens revolutionized dinosaur science yet again.

Today over 700 species of dinosaurs are known. We've come a long way from dragon bones to realizing dinos and birds are cousins! Modern technology is unlocking more dino secrets about diets, colors, babies and how dinos moved.

The mysteries keep unfolding. Who knows what crazy new species or dinosaur facts paleontologists will uncover next? The adventure continues!