Dinosaurs

by
Sophie Walker

One sunny morning, Digby found something strange in his garden. It was a giant footprint in the mud! His little robot friend, Pixel, zoomed over to help. “Did you know that dinosaurs lived right where we are standing?” Pixel asked. Digby’s eyes went wide. He wanted to learn everything about these ancient giants!

“Did you know that some dinosaurs were taller than houses?” Pixel beeped. Digby found a huge fossilized bone in the museum. It was much longer than his whole body! “The Argentinosaurus was as heavy as fifteen elephants,” Pixel explained. Digby stretched his arms out as wide as he could, but he still felt very small.

Not all dinosaurs were giants, though. “Did you know some were as small as chickens?” Pixel said. Suddenly, a tiny dinosaur called a Compsognathus zipped past! It was very fast and had a long, skinny tail. Pixel tried to race it, but the little dinosaur was much quicker.

Digby looked at a Stegosaurus with big plates on its back. “He looks very smart,” Digby said. Pixel shook his head. “Did you know that a Stegosaurus had a brain the size of a walnut?” Digby held a small walnut in his hand. It was hard to believe such a big animal had such a tiny brain!

Digby always thought dinosaurs were covered in scaly skin like lizards. But Pixel showed him a picture of a Velociraptor. “Did you know that many dinosaurs actually had feathers?” Pixel said. These feathers were bright and colorful, just like the birds we see in the trees today.

“Look at those long necks!” Digby shouted. He saw a Brachiosaurus reaching for the very top of a tree. “Did you know they spent all day eating leaves?” Pixel explained. Because they were so big, they had to eat hundreds of pounds of plants every single day to stay strong.

Then, Digby found a tooth. It was sharp and as big as a banana! “This belonged to a T-Rex,” Pixel whispered. “Did you know the T-Rex had the strongest bite of any land animal?” Digby carefully touched the edge of the tooth. He was glad he wasn’t a snack for a T-Rex!

“Their names are so hard to say!” Digby sighed, looking at a big book. Pixel helped him sound them out. “Did you know ‘Dinosaur’ means ‘Terrible Lizard’?” Pixel said. Digby practiced saying “Pachycephalosaurus” three times fast. It was like a tongue-twister!

Digby and Pixel spent the whole afternoon playing. Digby put on his favorite green dinosaur mask and stomped around the yard. “Roar!” he cried. “Did you know I am the bravest dinosaur hunter in the world?” Pixel chirped and chased Digby through the tall grass.

As the sun went down, Digby crawled into his tent. “Did you know that dinosaurs are still around us?” Pixel asked. Digby looked confused until Pixel pointed at a bird flying past the moon. “Birds are the grandsons and granddaughters of dinosaurs!” Digby smiled and fell asleep, dreaming of his big, prehistoric friends.