A Journey Through America's Dinosaur Heritage

A 90-foot dinosaur with a supersonic tail whip and other American giants

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Long before baseball, apple pie, and rock 'n' roll, the land that would become America was home to some of the most incredible creatures ever to walk the Earth. These 10 prehistoric superstars roamed from sea to shining sea, leaving behind fossils that continue to amaze us today.

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Meet America's most famous fossil celebrity, T. rex, whose name literally means "tyrant lizard king." This 40-foot-long predator weighed as much as a school bus and packed a bite force of 35,000 pounds per square inch—that's like getting chomped by a pickup truck with teeth!

What made T. rex truly terrifying wasn't just its banana-sized teeth, but its surprisingly keen intelligence and excellent eyesight. Recent fossil discoveries in Montana and Wyoming have revealed that these giants likely hunted in packs and may have been surprisingly good parents, staying with their young for years.

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Picture a rhinoceros crossed with a pickup truck, and you've got Triceratops, the ultimate herbivorous heavyweight of the American West. This 30-foot-long plant-eater sported a skull alone that measured 10 feet long—longer than a Smart car! Those three iconic horns weren't just for show; they were formidable weapons that could grow up to four feet long, perfect for fending off hungry T. rexes.

One of the most complete Triceratops skeletons ever found, nicknamed "Horridus," revealed just how powerful these gentle giants were. Its sharp beak could slice through tough vegetation like a set of prehistoric hedge trimmers.

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This 30-foot-long herbivore carried around 17 diamond-shaped plates along its back and four vicious tail spikes that paleontologists affectionately call the "thagomizer." Stegosaurus had a brain no bigger than a walnut—proving that sometimes you don't need to be Einstein to survive for millions of years.

Recent studies of fossils found throughout the American West suggest those plates functioned like solar panels, helping regulate body temperature in the Jurassic heat. With its spiky tail and built-in armor, Stegosaurus was basically the prehistoric equivalent of an armored RV, cruising the Jurassic landscape in style.

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Long before T. rex ruled the roost, Allosaurus was America's apex predator, terrorizing the Jurassic landscape like a 28-foot-long nightmare with a serious attitude problem. It weighed about as much as an elephant but moved with the grace of a giant cat, earning it the nickname "different lizard" for its uniquely shaped vertebrae.

What set Allosaurus apart from other predators was its combination of size, speed, and surprisingly advanced hunting strategies. Fossil evidence from Utah and Colorado suggests these predators worked together to take down massive sauropods, using their powerful arms and razor-sharp claws like prehistoric grappling hooks.

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Imagine a school bus stretched to the length of three basketball courts, and you’ve got Diplodocus, one of America’s longest dinosaurs—nearly 90 feet from nose to tail tip. This gentle giant from Wyoming and Colorado weighed about as much as four elephants but spent its days peacefully munching on ferns and conifers with a head no bigger than a horse's.

Computer models based on fossil evidence suggest Diplodocus could crack its whip-like tail at speeds of 1,200 miles per hour at the tip—faster than the speed of sound. Recent discoveries in Montana have revealed that these sauropods likely traveled in herds, lumbering together across ancient floodplains.

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Forget what you think you know about raptors from the movies—Utahraptor was the real deal, and it was absolutely terrifying. This 23-foot-long predator from Utah was essentially a grizzly bear-sized killing machine with 15-inch sickle claws and a brain sharp enough to plan your demise.

These pack hunters worked together like prehistoric wolves, using their massive claws to pin down prey while their razor-sharp teeth finished the job. Recent fossil discoveries have even preserved evidence of their feathers, proving that this house-sized predator was covered in a coat that would have made it look like the world's most dangerous giant rooster stalking through ancient Utah's forests.

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Its name means "lizard-eater supreme," and boy, did it live up to that title. This massive predator stretched up to 43 feet long, making it one of the largest predators of the Late Jurassic in North America.

What makes Saurophaganax particularly fascinating is that it shared its Oklahoma territory with massive sauropods, creating an ancient arms race between predator and prey that would have made nature documentaries incredibly exciting. Fossil evidence suggests this super-predator had longer arms and more powerful claws than its famous cousin, Allosaurus, perfectly adapted for tackling the giant plant-eaters that roamed prehistoric Oklahoma.

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This 11-foot-long predator may have been only the size of a large wolf, but it packed more intelligence and ferocity per pound than any creature that had ever lived. Its name means "terrible claw," referring to the switchblade-like 5-inch sickle on each foot that could slice through flesh like a prehistoric box cutter.

What made Deinonychus truly special wasn't just its fearsome weapons, but what it taught us about dinosaur behavior and evolution. The Montana fossils revealed evidence of pack hunting, complex social structures, and—most shocking of all—that dinosaurs were likely warm-blooded and active, not the sluggish cold-blooded reptiles previously imagined.

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Long before jazz was born in New Orleans, Parasaurolophus was making music across the American West with its spectacular hollow head crest that functioned like a natural trumpet. This 31-foot-long duck-billed dinosaur could produce deep, resonant honks that carried for miles across the Late Cretaceous landscape, essentially turning the prehistoric plains into nature's first outdoor concert venue.

What makes Parasaurolophus particularly endearing is that different species—and possibly different sexes—had varying crest shapes, meaning each may have produced its own unique song. Fossil evidence suggests these musical giants traveled in herds, and adults likely cared for their young, keeping families together as they roamed the ancient landscape.

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Meet the ultimate armored dinosaur, Ankylosaurus. This 20-foot-long herbivore lived during the final days of the dinosaurs, about 68-66 million years ago, across western North America. Weighing up to 8 tons, it was built like a prehistoric tank with armor covering even its eyelids.

Its most impressive feature was the massive tail club made of fused bones, capable of swinging with devastating force and potentially injuring even the largest predators. Ankylosaurus was basically the ultimate "don’t mess with me" dinosaur, combining impenetrable defense with a weapon that made any attacker think twice.

Have an apple

11 Common medical misconceptions you probably once believed

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Medicine is complicated, and it's easy for folklore, memes, and half-remembered advice to creep their way into our collective subconscious. Some of these myths are harmless, others are misleading, and many are downright dangerous. Let's take a look at 11 medical misconceptions that have endured over time, and that you've probably believed at one time or another.

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..keeps the doctor away, right? Apples are healthy. They are full of fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants. But, as you probably know, they aren't enough to ward off disease on their own. The phrase originated in 19th-century Wales as "Eat an apple on going to bed, and you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread." The rhyme is charming, but fortunately, doctors still get plenty of bread.

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That satisfying pop comes from collapsing gas bubbles in the fluid of your joints, not from your bones grinding to dust. Decades of peer-reviewed research show no link between knuckle-cracking and arthritis or bone deterioration. It might be irritating for those around you, but not bad for your joints.

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It does feel that way, but it's only an optical illusion: the new growth feels blunt and coarse when compared to a tapered hair tip. However, the follicles themselves are unaffected by shaving. Your hair’s growth rate and thickness are determined by genetics.

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This one is nothing more than a parental scare-tactic propaganda. Gum is indeed indigestible, but it doesn’t remain trapped inside you forever. It passes through your digestive tract quite efficiently, just like corn or sunflower seeds. Certainly in days, not 7 years.

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Although carrots are good for overall eye health, the myth that they have the power to give you night vision stems from a little bit of British World War II propaganda. The British Royal Air Force claimed that their pilots had uncannily good night accuracy because of their carrot-heavy diets. In reality, it was a cover story to conceal their use of radar technology.

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Neither black coffee nor cold showers can accelerate the rate at which your body metabolizes alcohol. Ask any doctor for a recipe to sober up quickly, and they will tell you the sad, sad truth: it's impossible.

Plenty of people claim to have found a trick to solve this problem. However, no matter how many freezing showers you take, they will only make you cold, wet, and awake, but still drunk.

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Well, it depends on who you ask. There’s a long list of home remedies: hold your breath, drink water upside down, have a friend scare you, and so on. While some of these techniques might help by resetting your diaphragm, the truth is that most hiccups fade on their own within minutes. And if they don’t, you’re better off seeing a doctor than cycling through an endless number of folk cures.

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In reality, apple seeds contain amygdalin, which the body can convert into toxic cyanide (not arsenic). However, the amount of amygdalin in apple seeds is tiny: you would need to crush and eat over 150 apple seeds to get anything close to a dangerous dose. Or you could simply avoid eating the seeds altogether.

In any case, apples are far better at keeping the doctor away than they are at poisoning you.

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If you do, you'll catch a cold. Or that's what this myth would have us believe. In fact, wet hair in chilly weather will just make you uncomfortable.

As we know, colds are caused by viruses that get into our systems. Being cold or damp doesn't conjure viruses out of thin air. That being said, lowering your body's temperature might weaken your immune defenses slightly, but the real culprits are still unequivocally the germs.

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A Hollywood myth that has crawled deep into our collective imagination. While the exact origin of the phrase is unclear, it is often associated with the lectures of Harvard psychologist William James, who told audiences that we only tap a fraction of our full potential during the 1890s. The idea then evolved and spread through self-help and motivational literature, eventually becoming the widely believed claim we know today.

Scientific research has thoroughly debunked this notion. While the inner workings of much of our brain are still unknown to us, we do know that virtually all of it has a function, and we use 100% of it.

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A Thanksgiving classic, people like to blame their festive drowsiness on the turkey. There is some scientific basis for this: turkey does contain tryptophan, an amino acid that promotes sleep.

However, the amount in turkey is minimal and no greater than that found in chicken or beef. The real culprits behind your post-dinner nap are the carb overload, extra drinks, and day-long festivities—not the turkey itself.