How long ago did dinosaurs live

Cite When Did the Dinosaurs Live? Updated February 21, Factmonster Staff. It was called Pangaea. The supercontinent slowly began to break up during the Triassic Period. Some reptiles, frogs, turtles and crocodiles existed earlier, but dinosaurs didn?

The period marked the rise of small, lightly built dinosaurs. The first mammals evolved during the Triassic period. They diversified into thousands of species, ranging in size from feisty carnivores like Microraptor about the size of a crow to behemoth plant-eaters like Brontosaurus , with the heft of a jet aeroplane. Some were specialised runners, others diggers, and some even glided and flew. Some species were covered in armour and spikes, others had endless varieties of horns and crests for display, many lived in groups and had big brains and keen senses, and it seems like many dinosaurs — if not all of them — were covered in some type of feather.

Owen is often credited as the first person to place dinosaur in their own category of creature after examining a particularly large dino bone. However, Owen is by no means the first to find dinosaur remains. For instance, many were unearthed in ancient China, but were treated as dragon bones. Many historians have also noted how many dinosaur bones in Europe were believed to be the remains of biblical creatures.

Scientists can estimate the appearance of dinosaurs with some very clever detective work. Not only can experts piece together the size of these creatures from their remains, but tiny details on each bone can offer big clues.

For instance, many fossilised bones have tiny scars that indicate how dinosaur muscles connected to their bones, also illuminating how they moved. In recent years, palaeontologists have also used 3D computer modelling to test exactly how dinosaurs could have moved, and thus looked. For a full explainer, you can read our full guide to how we know what dinosaurs looked like. Not all dinosaurs were enormous. One group, the paravian theropods, went in the opposite direction.

Like most dinosaurs, the first paravians sported simple, hair-like feathers, which probably helped to keep them warm. As the paravians got smaller over time, the feathers on their bodies became larger and more packed together. Smart cookie preferences.

Change cookie preferences Accept all cookies. Skip to content. Dinosaurs first appeared in the Triassic Period, around million years ago. Read later. You don't have any saved articles. Triassic Period to million years ago All continents during the Triassic Period were part of a single land mass called Pangaea. Jurassic Period to million years ago At the end of the Triassic Period there was a mass extinction, the causes of which are still hotly debated.

Lush vegetation grew in the Jurassic Period, providing plenty of food for plant-eating dinosaurs. Cretaceous Period to 66 million years ago During the Cretaceous the land separated further into some of the continents we recognise today, although in different positions.

Did you know? Discover what killed the dinosaurs. Evolution Feature Prehistoric Dinosaurs. Discover dinosaurs Find out what Museum scientists are revealing about how dinosaurs looked, lived and behaved. Dig up dino facts. Dino Directory Explore more than dinosaurs by name, shape or when and where they lived. What were the largest dinosaurs in Britain million years ago? And why were they so big?

What was the ocean like when dinosaurs roamed the Earth? This scavenger hunt will take you and your family back to the time of the dinosaurs.

Need more dinosaurs in your life? Some walked on four legs quadrupedal , and some were able to switch between these two walking styles.

Some dinosaurs were covered with a type of body armor, and some probably had feathers, like their modern bird relatives. Some moved quickly, while others were lumbering and slow. Most dinosaurs were herbivores, or plant-eaters, but some were carnivorous and hunted or scavenged other dinosaurs in order to survive. Pangaea began to break apart into separate continents during the Early Jurassic Period around million years ago , and dinosaurs would have seen great changes in the world in which they lived over the course of their existence.

Dinosaurs mysteriously disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous Period, around 65 million years ago. Many other types of animals, as well as many species of plants, died out around the same time, and numerous competing theories exist as to what caused this mass extinction.

In addition to the great volcanic or tectonic activity that was occurring around that time, scientists have also discovered that a giant asteroid hit Earth about Despite the fact that dinosaurs no longer walk the Earth as they did during the Mesozoic Era, unmistakable traces of these enormous reptiles can be identified in their modern-day descendants: birds.

Dinosaurs also live on in the study of paleontology, and new information about them is constantly being uncovered. Finally, judging from their frequent appearances in the movies and on television, dinosaurs have a firm hold in the popular imagination, one realm in which they show no danger of becoming extinct. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present.