George Phillips was not expecting to find any dinosaurs in the Northeastern Mississippi stream. But as he hunted for fossilized crabs and mollusks, he came across a strange specimen—a ridged object about the size of a quarter.

Location is everything, for both homeowners and dinosaurs. When you're buying a house, it's better for your long term happiness to find a neighborhood you like that's close to work instead of having that extra living room. And when you're a Cretaceous period dinosaur, it's better for your long term survival to have a giant asteroid hit in the middle of the ocean instead of just off the coast of Mexico.

Dinosaurs, it turns out, are not completely extinct. Far from it, in fact, as some 13,000 species of birds—dinos' modern relatives—roam the earth today. "Dinosaurs Among Us," a new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, showcases the relationship between ancient dinosaurs and birds, exploring the evidence that birds are a kind of dinosaur.

From feathers to flight, researchers keep finding more and more ways that dinosaurs were similar to modern birds. Modern birds are technically living dinosaurs, but a lot could have changed in the 65 million years since the other dinosaurs went extinct.

Dinosaurs ruled the world for over 180 million years, spreading across the oceans and continents. After all that time, it stands to reason that they left a few things behind. We've all seen fossils in books and museums, but dinosaurs left behind far more than just their bones. They also left their footprints.

When it comes to dinosaurs, the Tyrannosaurus rex and velociraptor motorcycle gangs might get all the attention--with good reason. They look awesome: