In January 2010, scientists claimed to discover a meat-eating dinosaur with ginger feathers. They claimed the dog-sized dinosaur added to their understanding of how birds evolved. Rivals then discovered others had rusty-brown plumage and freckles.
In June, others found flying dinosaurs had elaborate mating displays to rival modern-day peacocks. A study showed they used headcrests and “sails” to show off to potential mates.
In December, research showed most dinosaurs were vegetarian – a total contradiction to the popular image of the animals as terrifying predators.
In January 2011, scientists found a “one-fingered” dinosaur, which may have used its pointy digit to prise insects out of nests.
In the same month, they claimed aggressive two-legged dinosaurs transformed into peace-loving vegetarians due to evolution. “Somewhere on the line to birds,” one said, “predatory dinosaurs went soft.”
Soon afterwards, others discredited the theory the T-Rex was a scavenger, saying the animals only targeted large prey.
In February 2011, a newly discovered dinosaur was nick-named “thunderthighs” as a result of its enormously powerful leg muscles.
At the same time, others revealed dinosaurs survived for more than 700,000 years after the earth was hit by a massive meteorite. Tests on fossilised bones showed they survived longer than previously thought, beyond a meteorite originally believed to have caused their extinction.
In January 2012, scientist proclaimed dinosaurs were caring mothers, who looked after their newborns carefully in nests. Studies on 100 million-year-old rests hidden on rock levels showed dinosaurs returned to the same spot to lay their eggs.
Earlier this year, scientists finally poured doubt on the theory that dinosaurs “exploded” after death, as a build-up of gas in their decomposing bodies led to their bodies to burst open. The idea had previously been used to explain why adult dinosaur skeletons were often found in tact while the bones of their unborn offspring were strewn in all directions.
The exploding dinosaur theory dates back to 1976
Older bizarre – and totally unproven – hypotheses include the ideas that dinosaurs were killed off by promiscuity after a form of AIDS spread among their population, that they died out from constipation due to changes in plant-life and that they never really existed, instead being a myth created by evolution theorists