The word "dinosaur" was coined by Richard Owen and means "terrible lizard". After Irving, the frenzy of digging up dinosaur fossils around the world rose higher and higher.
As with other species, the discoverers of the new dinosaur have the right to name it. How do you give a cute name to a dinosaur that has just been unearthed? You know, a nice name will not only make people remember this dinosaur instantly, but also arouse people's curiosity and desire to explore.
According to international regulations, animal names are based on the dual-name method, which consists of genus names plus species names. Genus names have strict requirements and are represented as nouns; Species names are flexible and diverse, and can be adjectives or nouns. Although every dinosaur fossil has a name that conforms to international norms, when people mention this dinosaur, they often refer to it by species name, and genera names are often ignored.
Before taking the name, excavators first consult a large number of literature, strictly screen and carefully compare to ensure that the dinosaur bones or dinosaur egg fossils they excavate have never been named by others.
In addition, before the first naming, the basic situation of the dinosaur must be published in the journal.
That is to say, in order to prevent duplicate names and misnames, the dinosaur fossils to be named must be unanimously approved by the academic community. It can be seen that every good dinosaur name is not easy to come by, which contains the painstaking efforts of excavators.
With the above rules in hand, it's easy to name dinosaurs.
Most dinosaurs are named after their physical features or special habits, such as crocodiles, which lived in water; Triceratops, just by listening to the name can imagine its appearance, with three horns on its head, and the horn in the middle is funny no matter how it looks; The skin of the ankylosaur was unusually hard, like the armor of an ancient general.
The use of the place of discovery as a species name is an international practice.
Albertaurus was a giant carnivorous dinosaur whose fossils were first found in alberta, Canada, hence the name.
Giant Shandong Dragon, Magical Lingwu Dragon, Mamenxi Dragon, etc., you can guess their origin from the name alone.
It is also common to name dinosaurs after people. Yang's Psittacosaurus is the first dinosaur found in China, named after Yang Zhongjian, director of the Chinese Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology.
In 2012, a fossil of Iguanodon was discovered in northeastern Thailand, and in honor of Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand who supported paleontological research, the dinosaur was named Sirindhornosaurus.
In addition, to show appreciation, certain institution, school, or company names can also be used for dinosaur naming.
The Texas Dragon commemorates texas tech university's research support, and the Atlas Copcoron is to thank Atlas Copco for providing the equipment.
Nice names can make people think. The giant crest rainbow dragon was excavated in Qinglong County, Hebei Province, and it has a ring of colored feathers on its neck.
Julia Clarke of the Jackson School of Earth Sciences at the University of Texas was impressed by the name, and blurted out a praiseworthy word: "Rainbow, wow, this name sounds so charming." Julia added: "If you think about it, the name has serious scientific connotations. ”
Tyrannosaurus rex is by far the most domineering dinosaur name. In native English-speaking countries, people prefer to call Tyrannosaurus rex the full name "Tyrannosaurus.rex" rather than the abbreviation "T.rex", because "Tyrannosaurus.rex" is pronounced explosively and sounds domineering.
Tyrannosaurus rex is the most famous carnivorous dinosaur, with a body length of about 13 meters, an average hip height of 4 meters, a head height of nearly 6 meters, a weight of about 9 tons, and a bite force of up to 120,000 newtons. Judging from the above data, the Tyrannosaurus Rex is indeed worthy of its name.
There are also some dinosaur names that have made very Buddhist.
The mother dragon chewed food very finely to feed the newly hatched young dragons, and researcher Jack Horner was deeply impressed by the action of the mother dragon and named it after the mother. The sublime dragon fossil was found in the Santana Formation in northeastern Brazil, and when the paleontologist DeLima named it, he thought of the patron saint of the Indigenous Brazilian Tupi tribe, Sublime, so there was such a tall name.
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Knowledge Window Author: Hou Meiling