Dinosaur!

210 Pages·2014·74.42 MB·English

by  DK

DINOSAURS AND OTHER AMAZING PREHISTORIC CREATURES AS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE
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THE SMITHSONIAN
Established in 1846, the Smithsonian—the world’s largest museum and research
complex—includes 19 museums and galleries and the National Zoological Park.
The total number of artifacts, works of art, and specimens in the Smithsonian’s
collection is estimated at 137 million. The Smithsonian is a renowned research
center, dedicated to public education, national service, and scholarship in
the arts, sciences, and history.
s m i t h s o n i a n
DINOSAURS AND OTHER AMAZING PREHISTORIC CREATURES AS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE
Written by John Woodward
Consultant Darren Naish
Illustrators Peter Minister, Arran Lewis,
Andrew Kerr, Peter Bull, Vlad Konstantinov
CONTENTS
THE DINOSAURS JURASSIC LIFE
Life on Earth 8 THE JURASSIC WORLD 42
Animals with backbones 10 Megazostrodon 44
What is a dinosaur? 12 Heterodontosaurus 46
Dinosaur diversity 14 Scelidosaurus 48
Life in the Mesozoic 16 Cryolophosaurus 50
Stenopterygius 52
Monolophosaurus 54
Liopleurodon 56
Anchiornis 58
Allosaurus attack 60
Rhamphorhynchus 62
Kentrosaurus 64
Diplodocus 66
Pterodactylus 68
Stegosaurus 70
Allosaurus 72
Giraffatitan 74
Archaeopteryx 76
TRIASSIC LIFE
THE TRIASSIC WORLD 20
Nothosaurus 22
Placerias 24
Eoraptor 26
Postosuchus 28
False alarm 30
Plateosaurus 32
Eudimorphodon 34
Isanosaurus 36
Coelophysis 38
CRETACEOUS LIFE A NEW ERA
THE CENOZOIC WORLD 144
Titanoboa 146
Gastornis 148
Icaronycteris 150
Uintatherium 152
Darwinius 154
Forest threat 156
Andrewsarchus 158
Carcharodon megalodon 160
Megatherium 162
Smilodon 164
Woolly mammoth 166
THE CRETACEOUS WORLD 80
Iguanodon 82
Sinosauropteryx 84
Repenomamus 86
Hypsilophodon 88
Confuciusornis 90
Psittacosaurus 92
Muttaburrasaurus 94
Pterodaustro 96
Sauropelta 98
Alarm calls 100
Spinosaurus 102
Argentinosaurus 104
Pteranodon 106
Velociraptor 108
Albertonectes 110
DINOSAUR SCIENCE 168
Struthiomimus 112
GLOSSARY 200
Citipati 114
INDEX 204
Therizinosaurus 116
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 208
Deinosuchus 118
Breaking out 120
Nemegtbaatar 122
Euoplocephalus 124 Scales and sizes
Parasaurolophus 126 The data boxes for each prehistoric
animal include a scale drawing
Saltasaurus 128 to indicate its size (usually the
Mosasaurus 130 maximum). This is based on the
height of an average adult male,
Edmontosaurus 132
and the hand size shown below.
Pachycephalosaurus 134
Quetzalcoatlus 136
6 ft (1.8 m) 7 in (18 cm)
Triceratops 138
Tyrannosaurus 140

THE DINOSAURS
The living world has evolved a dazzling diversity of life,
but few animals can compete with the extinct dinosaurs
for variety, size, and sheer magnificence. They ruled
Earth for more than 160 million years during the Mesozoic
Era, and their descendants still live all around us today.
8
PRECAMBRIAN
This vast span of time extends from Earth’s formation
4.6 BYA–541 MYA
4.6 billion years ago to the evolution of the first animals.
DEVONIAN
Life on Earth
419–358 MYA
Many new types of fish evolved.
Some crawled out of the water
The Mesozoic dinosaurs were the most
to become early amphibians.
spectacular animals that have ever lived.
They were the product of a process of
Drepanaspis
evolution that began when the first flicker This armored
fish was 14 in
of life appeared on Earth 3.8 billion years ago.
(35 cm) long and
But it took more than 3 billion years for life to had a broad,
flattened head.
develop beyond microscopic single cells. The
earliest multicelled life forms evolved in the oceans
about 600 million years ago (MYA), and gave rise to Tiktaalik
The anatomy of this
all the living things that have appeared since. But as animal displays similarities
with both fish and
new life forms evolved, older ones became extinct,
early amphibians.
sometimes in catastrophic mass extinctions that
reshaped the living world.
Archaenthus 145–66 MYA 201–145 MYA
A low-growing ancestor
The Cretaceous During the second period
of the tulip tree, this C
saw the evolution of the Mesozoic Era, the
was one of the earliest R
flowering plants. It of the first flowering E dinosaurs dominated life on
had magnolialike plants, and many T land. They included giant
flowers and lived types of dinosaurs. A plant-eaters, hunted by
about 100 MYA, It concluded with a C powerful predators.
halfway through the mass extinction E
O
Cretaceous Period. that wiped out all
U
the big dinosaurs and Cryolophosaurus
S
pterosaurs, ending This crested dinosaur was one
of the theropods—the group that
the Mesozoic Era.
included all the big meat-eaters.
KEY
EARLY EARTH
PALEOZOIC ERA 66–23 MYA
MESOZOIC ERA The mass extinction
CENOZOIC ERA that ended the
Mesozoic killed off
P all the dinosaurs except
GEOLOGICAL TIME A
the birds. During the
L
The history of life is recorded E new era, mammals
by fossils in rocks that were once O evolved bigger
soft sediments such as mud. These G forms that took
E the place of the
sedimentary rocks form in layers,
N
vanished giants.
with older rocks beneath more recent E
ones. Each layer represents a span of
Velociraptor
geological time, named and given a date The dinosaurs became much more diverse during the
in millions of years ago (MYA). Seen here is Cretaceous. This small, agile, feathered hunter was
Earth’s geological timescale divided into part of the group that gave rise to the birds.
divisions called periods. Multiple periods
form a larger division called an era.