The Age of Dinosaurs

&nbsp The age of Dinosaurs was called the Mesozoic Era and lasted for more than 160 million years. It was ended by the K-T extinction. there were three periods in the Mesozoic, the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. Here is the order of events.
 * Triassic period: hot, dry and full of hardy little (and a few big) reptiles. During this period the Dinosaurs perfected the two legged hip position, and took over the Archosaurs (crocodile- like reptiles) and other ruling reptiles.
 * At first the Dinosaurs were small, meat-eating bug-catchers. But soon they grew in size into small, predatory dinosaurs like Eoraptor, Herrerasaurus and Coelophysis. A reptile called Placerias and it's relatives were still ruling the land, but as the Dinosaurs got bigger, the ruling reptiles just couldn't cope.
 * Later on, four-legged and two-legged herbivore dinosaurs evolved and pushed the Archosaurs lower down on the food chain. Because of the bigger prey, the predator dinosaurs got bigger too.
 * Jurassic period: humid, marshy, full of massive herbivores. Now the dinosaurs ruled the land and were just getting bigger and bigger. One of the biggest was Brachiosaurus, standing 16m tall and 20m long. Strange new herbivores with new defenses evolved, like stegosaurus and Kentrosaurus.
 * Big prey meant big and dangerous predators. scarier, more powerful dinosaurs like Allosaurus and Megalosaurus joined the party. the jurassic period was the dinosaurs boom time.
 * Cretaceous period: still humid, many different habitats, dangerous predators. the Cretaceous period was the last of the three dinosaur periods. this period saw the most terrifying creatures of all time, including tyrannosaurus rex, utahraptor and triceratops. The prey got tougher and more well - armoured. because of this the preadators got meaner, bigger and even more deadly. Some of the deadliest were; Spinosaurus, Tarbosaurus and of course Tyrannosaurus rex. Smaller raptors evolved too, intelligent and fast, they were lethal predators.
 * Because the predators got better, so did the prey. they evolved spikes and body armour, horns and clubs. some found safety in speed or numbers. there was such a wide variety of life, it's unbelievable. Don't forget that throughout the three periods, life under the sea got bigger, bolder and definetley more scary. the Mesozoic period was a seriously bad vacation destination.
 * at the end of the cretaceous period came the most famous extinction ever, the K-T extinction. there are many debates as what actually happened, but the most likely is that a massive asteroid hit earth, wiping out all life bigger than a cat. Small mammals that found shelter underground survived and got a brand new start on earth to go in any direction they wanted. Welcome to the story of the MAMMALS!