Dinosaur Quiz: Fossils, Extinction and Prehistoric Giants

This dinosaur quiz digs into fossils, extinction and prehistoric giants, from Richard Owen naming the dinosaurs and the Chicxulub crater to Stegosaurus, T. rex, Argentinosaurus, a turkey-sized Velociraptor and the dinosaurs living today as birds. Ten questions, 90 seconds.

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🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 90 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 90s

Words
What does the word dinosaur mean?
Time
Which period ended with the extinction of the non-bird dinosaurs 66 million years ago?
Extinction
What do most scientists think triggered the dinosaurs' extinction?
Extinction
Which crater in Mexico is linked to the impact that ended the age of dinosaurs?
Species
Which dinosaur had large plates along its back and a spiked tail?
Evolution
Birds are the living descendants of which group of dinosaurs?
History
Which British scientist coined the word dinosaur in 1842?
Species
When did Tyrannosaurus rex live?
Records
Which long-necked dinosaur is among the largest land animals that ever lived?
Myths
The real Velociraptor was roughly the size of which animal?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What does the word dinosaur mean?
Answer: Terrible lizard
Dinosaur comes from the Greek deinos, meaning terrible or fearfully great, and sauros, meaning lizard. Dinosaurs were not actually lizards, though.
Q2: Which period ended with the extinction of the non-bird dinosaurs 66 million years ago?
Answer: Cretaceous
The Cretaceous period ended 66 million years ago. Dinosaurs first appeared in the Triassic, about 230 million years ago, and ruled the land through the Jurassic and Cretaceous.
Q3: What do most scientists think triggered the dinosaurs' extinction?
Answer: An asteroid impact
A rock about 10 kilometers wide hit Earth, throwing dust and gases into the air that blocked sunlight and collapsed food chains. Huge volcanic eruptions in India may also have played a part.
Q4: Which crater in Mexico is linked to the impact that ended the age of dinosaurs?
Answer: Chicxulub
The Chicxulub crater, about 180 kilometers wide, lies buried under the Yucatán Peninsula. It was identified as the impact site in the early 1990s.
Q5: Which dinosaur had large plates along its back and a spiked tail?
Answer: Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus lived in the Late Jurassic and had a brain roughly the size of a dog's. The spikes on its tail are nicknamed the thagomizer.
Q6: Birds are the living descendants of which group of dinosaurs?
Answer: Theropods
Birds evolved from small, feathered, two-legged theropods, the same group that includes T. rex and Velociraptor. Scientists now consider birds to be living dinosaurs.
Q7: Which British scientist coined the word dinosaur in 1842?
Answer: Richard Owen
Richard Owen later founded London's Natural History Museum. Mary Anning, an earlier fossil hunter, found famous marine reptile skeletons on the Dorset coast.
Q8: When did Tyrannosaurus rex live?
Answer: Late Cretaceous
T. rex lived about 68 to 66 million years ago, at the very end of the age of dinosaurs. It lived closer in time to humans than to Stegosaurus.
Q9: Which long-necked dinosaur is among the largest land animals that ever lived?
Answer: Argentinosaurus
Argentinosaurus, found in Argentina, may have been around 35 meters long and weighed 70 tonnes or more. It belonged to the sauropods, plant-eaters with long necks and tails.
Q10: The real Velociraptor was roughly the size of which animal?
Answer: A turkey
Velociraptor was about the size of a turkey and was covered in feathers. The much bigger raptors in Jurassic Park were based on a larger relative, Deinonychus.

Dinosaur Quiz – Rulers of the Ancient World

Dinosaurs ruled the land for more than 160 million years, far longer than humans have existed. They first appeared in the Triassic period, about 230 million years ago, and spread across every continent, from the deserts of Mongolia to Antarctica. Some were as small as chickens, while others were among the largest animals ever to walk the Earth.

Scientists learn about dinosaurs from fossils: bones, teeth, footprints, eggs and even fossilized skin and feathers. The word dinosaur was coined by Richard Owen in 1842, and since then thousands of species have been named. New discoveries, many from China and South America, keep changing our picture of how dinosaurs looked and lived.

One of the biggest changes is the discovery that many dinosaurs had feathers. Small meat-eaters like Velociraptor looked more like large birds than the scaly monsters of old films, and birds themselves are now known to be the direct descendants of dinosaurs.

Their reign ended 66 million years ago, when a giant asteroid struck what is now Mexico, leaving the Chicxulub crater. The disaster wiped out about three-quarters of all species on Earth, but it also cleared the way for mammals, and eventually humans, to spread.

This quiz is written for teens and adults who want to go beyond the basics, with an explanation for each answer.

Museums around the world display some of the most famous finds. Sue the T. rex in Chicago, the giant sauropod skeletons in Berlin and Buenos Aires and the feathered dinosaurs of Liaoning in China draw millions of visitors, and many museums let children dig for replica fossils themselves.

What This Quiz Teaches

This quiz suits dinosaur fans of all ages, from museum visitors to fossil collectors.

What the word dinosaur means and who coined it
When dinosaurs lived and when they died out
What caused the mass extinction
How birds are related to dinosaurs
Facts about Stegosaurus, T. rex and Argentinosaurus
What the real Velociraptor looked like

Quick Facts About Dinosaurs

The first dinosaur to be scientifically named was Megalosaurus, in 1824.
Dinosaur fossils have been found on every continent, including Antarctica.
T. rex had teeth up to 30 centimeters long, including the root.
Pterosaurs and marine reptiles like plesiosaurs were not dinosaurs.
Sue, one of the most complete T. rex skeletons, is displayed at the Field Museum in Chicago.
Some dinosaurs cared for their eggs in nests, like modern birds.