Next time your kids get freaked out by the velociraptors-in-the-kitchen scene from Jurassic Park, trying distracting them with this little factoid:
The smallest dinosaur ever discovered, Oculudentavis - meaning eye-tooth-bird- was about the same size as the smallest bird!
The bee hummingbird, or Mellisuga helenae, at 2.25 inches (5.7 cm) long is also the world’s very smallest bird and is sometimes mistaken for an actual bee.
Mellisuga weighs about the same as a US dime and lays eggs about the size of a coffee bean. It is found only in Cuba.
Meet Oculudentavis
The smallest-ever dinosaur, Oculudentavis, was first discovered in 2016 in northern Myanmar and lived about 99 million years ago.
Its half-inch wide head was found trapped in a lump of amber which preserved both bones and some soft tissue.
Oculudentavis was first thought to be a very primitive bird looking something like this:
But after some scientific controversy, Oculudentavis is now thought to have been more like a very small, very strange lizard:
Not very scary – right, kids?
You might like: 10 Cool Facts about Cardinals
Add Comment