Scientific theories aren’t always 100 percent accurate out of the gate—especially when it comes to paleontology, which relies largely on fossil evidence and some very big extrapolations about animal behavior. Since dinosaurs aren't here to defend themselves (after all, they’ve been extinct for 65 million years), here’s an attempt to set the facts straight.
1. Brachiosaurus
This gigantic plant-eater presumably used its 30-foot neck to nibble on the tops of trees—a pose the Brach has struck in countless illustrations (and a couple of famous movies). It turns out, though, that herbivores like Brachiosaurus may have held their necks parallel to the ground, using their extended tails as counterweights—because even a giant dinosaur heart would have struggled to pump blood to a height of 30 feet.2. Oviraptor
Talk about a bum rap. The first skeleton of this small, bird-like dinosaur was found atop a pile of fossilized, presumably stolen eggs—thus inspiring its name, which is Latin for “egg thief.” However, it turns out that the dino was probably sitting on its own eggs, and that it used its sharp beak to break open hard-shelled mollusks (and not the unhatched eggs of other dinosaurs).
3. T. Rex
Thanks to a half-century of monster movies, this giant-toothed, small-handed meat-eater has earned a bogus reputation as an unstoppable killing machine. Wouldn’t you know, it turns out that T. Rex may have been a scavenger—meaning it feasted on already-dead or dying creatures, rather than hunting them down. (You can read more details about the T. Rex controversy here.)4. Pteranodon
It seems like the most natural thing in the world to assume that this flying lizard, and others like it, represented the first step in bird evolution—except that birds evolved from other (land-dwelling) dinosaurs while the Pteranodon and its ilk went extinct. It’s even possible that proto-birds caused Pteranodons to die out in the first place, because they were better (and more efficient) flyers.
