GIANT lizards from prehistory were just made up to sell toys and books, scientists have admitted.
Suspicions were aroused after researchers claimed to have discovered a new dinosaur that was fiercer, cooler looking and more marketable than Tyrannosaurus rex.
Paleontologist Tom Logan said: “After we brought it out, I had phone calls from angry parents saying they were running out of cash and could we please stop discovering new dinosaurs.
“I came clean and explained that the mere idea of giant lizards is ridiculous. What would they even eat? And look at the T rex, obviously that would just topple over.”
The dinosaur racket began in 1824 when toy companies asked scientists to imagine some extinct animals kids would love in exchange for funding authentic, boring research.
Logan said: “Once a week all scientists go to the dinosaur development lab in Kent and everyone has to pitch three ideas.
“My best one was ‘lizard cat with retractable tail’ but one of those bastards from Oxford said it was ‘too He-Man’.”
