Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs were a group of animals that ruled our world for about 150 million years. They lived during the geologic middle ages of the Earth’s history, in a time that is called the Mesozoic era. Dinosaurs were reptiles and belonged to the greatest animals on Earth.

The Age of Dinosaurs

The Mesozoic era is often called the Age of Dinosaurs. It began about 250 million years ago and ended about 65 million years ago. Geologists divide it into 3 parts:

the Triassic
the Jurassic
the Cretaceous

During the Mesozoic period the Earth consisted of only one single mass of land. About 200 million years ago this huge continent, Pangaea, broke into many pieces, which started to drift apart. Continents moved slowly into the position they are today.

The climate during the Age of Dinosaurs was different than today’s. It was warmer and there was more vegetation. The land was full of swamps, green plains, rivers and lakes. The first forests, mostly conifers that had cones on them emerged. Ferns and mosses also appeared on the Earth.

Physical features of dinosaurs

Dinosaurs were land animals that lived in almost all parts of the world, from tropical regions to deserts. They came in many different sizes and had different body shapes. Some were huge creatures, up to 40 meters long and a hundred tons in weight. Others were as small as a chicken.

Most dinosaurs had a scaly skin with no hair on their bodies. Although we often think dinosaurs were grey, dull creatures, experts think that some of them could have been really colorful.

Until today scientists don’t really know if dinosaurs were cold- or warm-blooded animals. They had their own way of regulating their body temperature.

Some dinosaurs were able to walk on their two hind legs and stood upright. They had hollow, light bones which enabled them to move quickly. Others had strong bones to support their massive weight. They moved slowly on all four legs.

Some types of dinosaurs had powerful jaws with sharp teeth made for eating meat and tearing apart their prey while others had long necks and ate leaves off of trees and other plants.

Most dinosaurs laid eggs. After they hatched, baby dinosaurs grew very quickly. They reached their full size after 7 or 8 years. It is still unclear how long dinosaurs lived, but some may have survived up to a hundred years. Fossils show that some dinosaurs lived in herds for at least parts of the year.

Dinosaurs were able to protect themselves in many ways. Some of them used their horns for protection; others drove enemies away with their massive size.

Groups of Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs are divided into two basic groups.

Ornithischians were dinosaurs that had bird-like hips and other features that you can find in modern birds. Many had a skin made of plates and most of them were plant eaters. The Stegosaurus, for example, was a plant-eating dinosaur with a small head. It reached a length of up to 10 meters.

Saurischians were dinosaurs that had hips like lizards. Some of them belonged to the largest creatures that ever roamed the Earth.

The Brontosaurus, for example, was an enormous animal. It had a long neck, a small head and ate plants from trees. It moved slowly because it was so heavy. Some Saurischians were meat-eating dinosaurs. The fiercest of all was the Tyrannosaurus rex, the king of lizards. The T. rex was almost 4 meters tall and had sharp teeth. It had short front legs but very strong and massive hind legs. Tyrannosaurs roamed across North America and Central Asia towards the end of the Mesozoic period.

Why dinosaurs died out

Dinosaurs became extinct towards the end of the Mesozoic era, about 65 million years ago. Although there are still some mysteries left most scientists think that a drastic change in climate killed them. Winters became too cold for dinosaurs to survive.

Another theory says that a huge asteroid hit the Earth at that time. It whirled so much dust and gas into the atmosphere that sunlight was blocked out for millions of years. Dinosaurs probably starved to death because there was no food.

Other scientists maintain that dinosaurs may have evolved into birds. Some modern birds, like ostriches may have come from dinosaurs like the archaeopteryx.

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Words

although = while
appear = show up
archaeopteryx = half bird and half dinosaur that lived during the Mesozoic period
block out = keep out, not let in
cold-blooded = the body temperature changes with the air around it
cone = fruit of a tree
conifer = a tree that has needles and brown fruits that have seeds in them; most of these trees keep their needles during the winter
consist of = is made up of
creature = a living thing
drastic = strong
drift apart = move away from each other
dull = not bright or shiny
dust = dry powder made up of dirt
emerge = appear
enable = allow
evolve = to become, grow into
extinct = to die out
fierce = brutal, very dangerous
fossil = an animal or plant that lived a long time ago and which has been preserved in rock
geologist = a person who studies the rocks of the Earth and how it was formed
hatch = to come out of an egg
herd = a group of animals that live and eat together
hind = back
hip = one of the two parts on each side of your body between the top of the leg and the waist
hollow = empty inside
huge = very big
jaw = the lower part of the face
lizard = a coldblooded animal that has four legs and a long tail
maintain = explain, say
massive = very large
moss = small green plant that grows in a thick mass on grass, trees or rock
mystery = something that cannot be explained or something that we do not really know
ostrich = a large bird with long legs that can run very quickly but cannot fly
plain = large area of flat dry land
plate = flat piece of bone or body that protects an animal
prey = animals that are hunted and eaten by other animals
protect = defend
regulate = control
reptile = an animal, like a snake, whose body temperature changes depending on the temperature around it; it usually lays eggs to have babies
roam =wander around
rule = control, to be in power
scaly = covered with pieces of hard, dry skin
scientist = a person who is trained in science
shape = body form
support = hold up
survive = to live on
swamp = land that is always very wet or covered with water
warm-blooded = the body temperature is the same all the time
weight = how heavy something is
whirl = to spin around very quickly and take material with it

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