Science Night tackles all things dinosaur

Think all dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago? Think again, says paleontologist Kristi Curry Rogers.

"When you think about dinosaurs, usually we think about these giant, scaly reptiles," said Curry Rogers, an associate professor at Macalaster College.

However, modern-day dinosaurs are everywhere. They exist as cardinals feeding at a backyard feeders and sparrows and other birds darting along the Mississippi River.

Curry Rogers was among several guests — including a peregrine falcon and a great horned owl — at a recent Science Night event at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.

Highlights:

• Brontasaurus is back. "For a long time paleontologists thought that brontaurus was what we would call an invalid species because it had the wrong head connected to the wrong body," Curry Rogers said. A recent study of all long-necked dinosaurs found enough evidence to reinstate the name brontasaurus.

• The powerful peregrine falcon isn't just speedy. It's actually the fastest animal in the world and has been clocked at more than 200 mph. Those kind of stats make the cheetah with bursts of 70 mph seem pretty pokey.

• The great horned owl — also known as the tigers of the sky — is one of the only animals who will prey on skunks.

• Birds like their dinosaur ancestors have air sacks in their bones.

• An eagle will grow to its full size before it leaves the nest about two months after birth. By comparison, it takes about five years for a blue whale to grow to its full size. That's roughly the same as a long-neck dinosaur.