- Dinosaurs lived when?:
Learn about the dinosaurs’ era. Learn about the conditions and evolution of the prehistoric world between the earliest recorded sightings of dinosaurs and the great extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period.
The Mesozoic Era, whichh includes the time between 245 and 66 million years ago, is when non-avian dinosaurs lived. This occurred millions of years before Homo sapiens, the ancestors of modern humans, arrived.
The Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous are the three periods into which scientists have divided the Mesozoic Era. The country eventually divided into smaller supercontinents throughout this time. The climatic and vegetational shifts that followed had an impact on dinosaur evolution.
• Period of the Triassic (252–201 million years ago)
During the Triassic Period, every continent was a part of a single
The reptiles that are now known as dinosaurs first evolved in this habitat. Because their skin is less porous than that of mammals, for example, and so loses less water in the heat, reptiles typically thrive in hot climes. Reptile kidneys are also excellent at preserving water.
With the conclusion of the Triassic, Pangaea started to progressively split in two due to a sequence of large-scale volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The North Atlantic Ocean began to exist at this point.
Like these other Late Triassic dinosaurs, Coelophysis existed at the conclusion of the Triassic Period.
• Period of Jurassic (201–145 million years ago)
There was a mass extinction near the end of the Triassic Period, the causes of which are still up for dispute. The dinosaurs survived when many other huge land animals perished, which allowed them to diversify into new forms and multiply.
During the Jurassic Period, lush flora flourished, giving plant-eating dinosaurs like this Stegosaurus plenty of food.
Pangaea, the one land mass, divided into Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south. Similarities in their fossil records indicate that there were some geographical links between the two continents early in the Jurassic era, despite their separation. Later in the time, these areas started to stand out more.
Because there was more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there is today, temperatures decreased somewhat but were still higher than they are today. The appearance of vast seas between the land masses resulted in an increase in rainfall.
Large-scale growth of plants like horsetails and ferns was made possible by these modifications. We now harvest fossil fuels made from part of this plant. There were also tall conifer woods, including sequoias and monkey puzzles, in other places.
The
• Period of the Cretaceous (145–66 million years ago)
The land further divided into several of the continents that we recognize today throughout the Cretaceous, but in different places. This indicated that dinosaur diversity increased as a result of independent evolution occurring in several places of the earth.
During the Cretaceous, sauropods attained their highest sizes. The titanosaurs were the largest. The length of Patagotitan was an incredible 37.5 meters!
Is the dinosaur visible in this Cretaceous setting? Check out additional Late Cretaceous dinosaurs.
Diverse groups of creatures were also found. During this period, the first snakes appeared on Earth, and by the end of the Cretaceous, flowering plants made up a substantially larger portion of the planet’s plant life.
Additionally, a variety of insect groups—including bees—appears, aiding in the spread of
• Were you aware?
Sea levels fluctuated throughout the Cretaceous Period. The continents that we know now were divided into several little seas at their maximum point. Europe, for instance, was composed of numerous smaller islands. As single-celled algae perished and their skeletons dropped to the seafloor, thick layers of sediment accumulated at the bottom of these oceans.
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