How did the ancient dinosaurs live? History of dinosaurs

The word "dinosaur", which translates as "terrible lizard", appeared in 1842, when humanity was just trying to figure out what kind of bones these are found during excavations. It was then that the science of paleontology was born. The history of dinosaurs has been rewritten many times since then, and this moment there are many versions about their origin, formation and extinction. Consider the most common and relatively official version.

The origin of the dinosaurs

Attempts to explain plain language The history of dinosaurs in a film or cartoon has been made repeatedly, but the events that preceded their appearance on our planet were practically not covered anywhere. As you know, the ancestors of these creatures are reptiles and birds. In particular, the crocodiles that exist at the moment have the most similar features to the ancient monsters. About 300 million years ago, when lizards already existed in the form we are used to, there was a serious climate change. Rainforests were largely destroyed, and the remnants of life huddled in the remaining small enclaves. This gave the first impetus to a huge variety of species, as each population developed independently of each other and tried to adapt to the conditions in which it existed. And they were very different different regions. This is how the ancestors of dinosaurs appeared, called archosaurs by scientists.

First views

The history of dinosaurs, at least in the form in which they are represented by modern man, began about 200-245 million years ago. There is practically no exact data on the features and differences of these creatures compared to later samples, but something can be said for sure:

• They were bipedal (dinosaurs with four legs appeared a little later, although the opposite situation would have looked logical).
• The creatures were quite large, mostly their growth reached 2-4 meters.
• All of them were cold-blooded. Because of this, the need for food, despite its impressive size, was not too great.
• On the early stages development, most likely, there were no flying species of these pangolins.

In general, humanity knows very little about this period. Most of the information is guesswork and theories based on various findings and circumstantial evidence. So things could be completely different.

The Last Dinosaurs

The size of the "terrible lizards" gradually increased, and this continued until about the end of the Jurassic period (this was about 145 million years ago). In the middle of their life cycle, dinosaurs reached enormous sizes (up to 12 meters in height and 1 ton of net weight). During the "reign" of these monsters, no other species simply could not even conditionally claim dominance on the planet. Even later, in the Cretaceous period (65 million years ago), the creatures began to shrink. According to some reports, they developed the beginnings of feathers, and even warm-blooded species arose. Judging by the available information, the number of predators has significantly decreased, and, accordingly, the number of herbivores has increased. As a result, rare hunters have become truly real "killing machines". They moved quickly, could cope with most opponents, had no shortage of food and were rightly considered at that time the pinnacle of evolution.

mass extinction

The situation with the disappearance of this type of living creatures is well shown in the cartoon "The History of Dinosaurs". Of course, there the information is more focused on children, but active volcanoes, drought, lack of food and other similar problems could really cause the complete extinction of the prehistoric rulers of the planet. According to the official version, it all started with a huge meteorite that fell somewhere in the region of present-day Mexico. Upon impact, a large amount of dust rose into the atmosphere, sharply reducing surface temperatures (a similar situation is called "nuclear winter" and can become a reality if countries try to solve their problems with nuclear weapons). Along the way, the impact on the Earth activated dormant volcanoes. As a result, the simultaneous impact of several factors at once led to the fact that dinosaurs simply did not have time to adapt and during short period almost completely died out. Most likely, individual individuals remained, but they could not survive in a new world in which other dominant species appeared. Many people think that this particular dinosaur story is for children. Allegedly, in fact, everything was completely different. Unfortunately, in the future, scientists disagree in their opinions, and no one can yet give a clear theory of how everything really happened.

Many intriguing and mysterious things are shown in documentaries"History of Dinosaurs" from Popular Science Channels. True, they cannot be called documentary, since there are no documents, but everything there is reconstructed very competently. Nevertheless, every year more and more discoveries are made that radically change the idea of ​​dinosaurs as such. Let's see what Interesting Facts opens up to us modern history dinosaurs.

• Despite the fact that, as it was believed, dinosaurs were almost a mistake of nature (too small brain, big weight, severely restricted diets, and so on), they managed to dominate the planet for over 130 million years. The history of man as such, if we take our more or less reasonable ancestors, is at best 100,000 years old. So it is not a fact that in the distant future some new species will not be considered a mistake of a modern person.
• Tyrannosaurus, known in many films and literature as the most terrible and huge dinosaur, in fact, was not one. There were even more creatures, however, unlike this predator, they were still not hunters.
• The history of dinosaurs is still silent about why a tyrannosaurus needs its small hands at all. Judging by the structure of the skeleton, he simply could not reach them anywhere. Even more mysterious is the fact that these hands had very well developed muscles.
• Stegosaurus plates were used primarily not to protect against predators, but to remove heat. That is, they played the role of a natural radiator, in one case cooling huge dinosaur, and in another, helping him to accumulate heat more efficiently, which is extremely important for any cold-blooded creature.

Results

The history of dinosaurs is gradually overgrown with new data, some of which contradict each other or do not fit into existing theories. For example, it is believed that dinosaurs and humans could not have existed in the same period of history. Although there are very interesting finds, stones, on which ancient people quite reliably depicted the interaction of a person and a “terrible lizard”. As it was in reality, no one can say yet. We are unable to fully understand even own history what can we say about what happened long before the appearance of man as such.

How many mysteries are hidden in the ancient The World History. Dinosaurs are one of them. They reigned on Earth for more than 160 million years, starting from Triassic period(approximately 225 million years ago) and until the end of the Cretaceous (about 65 million years ago). Today, scientists can recreate appearance these animals, their way of life and habits, but many questions have not yet been answered. How did dinosaurs appear? Why did they disappear? Although these dinosaurs disappeared from the face of our planet almost 65 million years ago, the history of dinosaurs, their origin, life and sudden death is of undoubted interest to researchers. Let's look at the main stages in the development of reptiles.

origin of name

Dinosaurs are called the only group of reptiles. This name refers only to those of them who lived in the Mesozoic era. If translated from Greek, the term "dinosaur" means "terrifying" or "terrible lizard". This name was introduced by the British explorer Richard Owen in 1842. So he suggested calling the first discovered fossilized remains of ancient lizards to emphasize their unprecedented size and grandeur.

Beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs

As you know, the entire history of the planet is traditionally divided into successive eras. The time in which dinosaurs lived is usually attributed to the Mesozoic. It, in turn, includes three periods: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. Mesozoic era began about 225 million years ago, and ended about 70 million years ago. The history of dinosaurs begins during the first period - the Triassic. However, they were most widespread in the Cretaceous.

Long before the advent of dinosaurs, reptiles lived on the planet. They looked like the usual modern man lizards in that their paws were on the sides of the body. But when did it start global warming(300 million years ago), among them there was an evolutionary explosion. All groups of reptiles began to actively develop. This is how the archosaur appeared - it differed from its predecessors in that its paws were already located under the body. Presumably, the emergence of dinosaurs belongs to this chronological segment.

Triassic Dinosaurs

Already at the very beginning of the Triassic period, many new species of lizards appeared. It is believed that they already walked on two legs, because their front legs were shorter and much less developed than their hind legs. In this they differed from their predecessors. The history of the emergence of dinosaurs says that one of the first species was staurikosaurus. He lived about 230 million years ago in what is now Brazil.

In the early evolutionary stages, there were a large number of other reptiles: ethosaurs, cynodonts, ornithosuchids and others. Therefore, the dinosaurs had to endure a long rivalry before carving their niche and flourishing. It is generally accepted that they acquired a dominant position over all other inhabitants of the planet at the end of the Triassic period. This is associated with the large-scale extinction of animals that inhabited the Earth at that time.

Jurassic Dinosaurs

By the beginning of the Jurassic period, dinosaurs had become the absolute masters of the planet. They settled over the entire surface of the Earth: in the mountains and plains, swamps and lakes. The history of dinosaurs of this period is marked by the appearance and spread of new numerous kinds. Examples include Allosaurus, Diplodocus, Stegosaurus.

Moreover, these lizards most radically differed from each other. So, they could be completely different sizes, have a different lifestyle. Some of the dinosaurs were predators, others were completely harmless herbivores. Interestingly, what exactly Jurassic period came the heyday of winged lizards - pterosaurs. Majestic reptiles reigned not only on land and in the sky, but also in the depths of the sea.

Cretaceous Dinosaurs

During Cretaceous the number and variety of dinosaurs has reached the maximum level. On the other hand, some scientists do not share the view of a sudden and significant increase in the number of reptiles. In their opinion, representatives of the Triassic and Jurassic periods are much less studied than the inhabitants of the Cretaceous.

At that time there were a lot of herbivorous reptiles. This is due to the appearance on the planet of a large number of new plant species. However, there were plenty of predators. It is to the Cretaceous period that the appearance of such a well-known species as the Tyrannosaurus Rex belongs. By the way, he turned out to be perhaps one of the most famous dinosaurs. The most massive of all carnivorous reptiles, it weighed up to eight tons, and its height could reach 12 meters. The Cretaceous period also includes the appearance of such known species like Iguanodon and Triceratops.

The mysterious death of dinosaurs

Dinosaurs disappeared approximately 65 million years ago. This event occurred at the very end of the Cretaceous period. Today there are many different theories about how and why this happened. At the same time, scientists still cannot come to a consensus.

In particular, the causes of their death, as well as whether it was slow or fast, raise questions. It is known for certain that it became one of the parts of the "great extinction" of that time. Then not only dinosaurs disappeared from the face of the Earth, but also other reptiles, as well as mollusks and some algae. According to one point of view, the "great extinction" was triggered by the fall of an asteroid.

After that, giant clouds of dust rose into the air, covering the sun for months, which caused the death of all life. Some scientists are of the opinion that a star exploded near the Earth, as a result of which the entire planet was covered with radiation that is deadly for its inhabitants. Another common view is that the dinosaurs died out as a result of a cold snap that began at the end of the Cretaceous. One way or another, the era of reptiles is over. And how this happened, science has yet to find out.

History of the study of dinosaurs

The history of dinosaurs began to interest people relatively recently. Their study began only at the beginning of the 19th century. This is largely due to the fact that people did not perceive the bones found in the Earth as dinosaur footprints. Interestingly, in antiquity it was believed that these were the remains of the heroes of the Trojan War.

In the Middle Ages and until the 19th century - the giants who died in the Flood. Only in 1824 were they first identified as the remains of giant lizards. In 1842, the British scientist Richard Owen, drawing attention to the main features these reptiles, brought them into a separate suborder and gave them the name "dinosaurs". Since then, there has been a constant accumulation of knowledge about them, new species have been discovered. The life history of dinosaurs was becoming more and more complete. Now the study of these reptiles continues with even greater zeal. Modern researchers have almost a thousand varieties of dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs in popular culture

World art has given people a huge number of books and films dedicated to these lizards. For example, they appear in Arthur Conan Doyle's " lost World”, which was subsequently filmed several times. On the basis of the work of Michael Crichton, the famous film "Jurassic Park" was shot. The history of dinosaurs for children is presented with the help of numerous animated films and colorful illustrated books. Of these, the child can get acquainted with these amazing and majestic animals.

Despite the fact that so much time has passed since the last dinosaurs disappeared from the surface of the Earth, the history of the origin of these majestic dinosaurs, their life and the mystery of their disappearance still excite the hearts and minds of people. However, most of their mysteries are likely to remain unanswered.

About 230 million years ago, the first dinosaurs evolved from a population of archosaurs. (Archosauria), which shared the planet with many other reptiles, including animal-like reptiles - therapsids (Therapsida) and pelycosaurs (Pelycosauria). As a separate group, dinosaurs were identified by a set of (mostly obscure) anatomical features, but the main thing that makes them easier to identify and distinguishes them from archosaurs is their bipedal or quadrupedal upright posture, as evidenced by the shape and arrangement of the bones of the thigh and lower leg. See also: "" and ""

As with all such evolutionary transitions, it is impossible to determine the exact moment when the first dinosaur appeared on Earth. For example, the bipedal archosaur Marazuh (Marasuchus) great for the role of an early dinosaur, and lived with the saltopus dinosaurs (S. elginensis) and procompsognatus (P. triassicus) during the period of transition between these two forms of life.

Recently discovered genus of archosaurs - asilisaurs (Asilisaurus), can move roots family tree dinosaurs up to 240 million years ago. There are also controversial footprints of the first dinosaurs in Europe dating back 250 million years!

It's important to keep in mind that archosaurs didn't "disappear" from the face of the earth when they turned into dinosaurs. They continued to live side by side with their possible descendants for the remainder of the Triassic period. And, to confuse us completely, around the same time, other populations of archosaurs began to evolve into the first pterosaurs. (Pterosauria) and prehistoric crocodiles. For 20 million years, during the Late Triassic, landscapes South America abounded with similar-looking archosaurs, pterosaurs, ancient crocodiles, and the first dinosaurs.

South America - Land of the First Dinosaurs

The earliest dinosaurs lived in the region of the Pangea supercontinent, corresponding to the territory of modern South America. Until recently, the most famous of these creatures were the relatively large Herrerasaurus (about 200 kg) and the medium-sized Staurikosaurus (about 35 kg), which lived about 230 million years ago. But now, part of the attention has shifted to Eoraptor (Eoraptor lunensis), discovered in 1991, a small (about 10 kg) dinosaur.

A recent discovery could overturn our understanding of the South American origin of the first dinosaurs. In December 2012, paleontologists announced the discovery of Nyasasaurus. (Nyasasaurus), who lived in the area of ​​Pangea corresponding to present-day Tanzania, Africa. Amazing! The fossil remains of this dinosaur are 243 million years old, which is approximately 10 million years earlier than the first South American dinosaurs. However, it is possible that Nyasasaurus and its relatives were a short-lived offshoot from the early dinosaur family tree, or technically they were archosaurs rather than dinosaurs.

These early dinosaurs spawned a hardy group of reptiles that quickly (at least in terms of evolution) spread to other continents. The first dinosaurs quickly migrated to the areas of Pangea corresponding to North America (a prime example is the Coelophysis (Coelophysis), thousands of fossils of which have been discovered in the Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, USA, as well as recently discovered tawa (Tawa), which are given as proof of the South American origin of dinosaurs. Small to medium carnivorous dinosaurs such as , soon made their way to the eastern part North America, and then further to Africa and Eurasia.

Specialization of early dinosaurs

The first dinosaurs coexisted on equal terms with archosaurs, crocodiles, and pterosaurs. If you were to travel back in time to the end of the Triassic period, you would never guess that these reptiles are above all others. Everything changed with the mysterious Triassic-Jurassic, which wiped out most of the archosaurs and therapsids. No one knows for sure why dinosaurs survived, perhaps due to upright posture, or a more complex structure of the lungs.

By the beginning of the Jurassic period, dinosaurs began to diversify the ecological niches left behind by their extinct cousins. The split between the lizards mi (Saurischia) and ornithischians (Ornithischia) dinosaurs occurred at the end of the Triassic period. Most of the very first dinosaurs were sauropods, such as sauropodomorphs (Sauropodomorpha), which evolved into bipedal herbivorous prosauropods (Prosauropoda) in the early Jurassic, as well as larger sauropods (Sauropoda) and titanosaurs (Titanosaurus).

As far as we can tell, ornithischian dinosaurs, including ornithopods, hadrosaurs, ankylosaurs, and ceratopsians, evolved from eocursors. (Eocursor)- a genus of small, bipedal dinosaurs of the late Triassic of South Africa. Eocursor most likely descended from an equally small South American dinosaur (possibly Eoraptor) that lived 20 million years earlier (a clear example of how such a huge variety of dinosaurs could have arisen from such a modest progenitor).

List of first dinosaurs

Name (genus or species)	Short description	Image
	genus of lizard dinosaurs related to the herrerasaurs (Herrerasaurus).
Tselofiz (Coelophysis)	genus is not large dinosaurs that lived in North America.
	genus of small dinosaurs, close relative compsognathus (Compsognathus).
Compsognathus (Compsognathus)	a genus of dinosaurs the size of a large chicken that lived in the late Jurassic period.
Demonosaurus (Daemonosaurus)	carnivorous reptiles from the theropod suborder (Theropoda).
Elaphrosaurus (Elaphrosaurus)	a genus of carnivorous dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic.
Eodromaeus (Eodromaeus murphi)	a species of ancient carnivorous dinosaurs from South America.
Eoraptor (Eoraptor lunensis)	a species of small dinosaurs, one of the first of its kind.
	a genus of early dinosaurs named after Godzilla.
Herrerasaurus (Herrerasaurus)	genus of the first carnivorous dinosaurs from the vastness of South America.
Lilienstern	genus of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs of the Triassic period.
Megapnosaurus (Megapnosaurus)	in Greek, the genus name means "big dead lizard."
Pampadromaeus barberenai	ancient species of herbivorous reptiles and ancestor of sauropods.
	genus of one of the earliest dinosaurs in North America.
Procompsognatus (Procompsognathus)	a genus of prehistoric reptiles possibly related to the archosaurs.
saltopus	as in the previous case, it is not known exactly whether saltopus belonged to dinosaurs or archosaurs.
Sanjuansaurus (Sanjuansaurus)	a genus of early dinosaurs from South America.
	a genus of carnivorous dinosaurs from the expanses of England in the early Jurassic period
	a genus of small reptiles from the theropod suborder that lived in North America during the Jurassic period.
Staurikosaurus	primitive carnivorous dinosaur of the late Triassic period.
Tava (Tawa)	a genus of lizard-like carnivorous dinosaurs found in southern North America.
Zupaisaurus (Zupaysaurus)	a representative of early theropods found in what is now Argentina.

Where did dinosaurs come from? This seemingly simple question has been the subject of heated debate among scientists for more than 150 years. Some evolutionists suggest that reptiles, including dinosaurs, evolved from amphibians; while amphibians are the descendants of ancient fish. The Age of Reptiles is believed to have begun during the Triassic Period, approximately 225 million years ago. Some tetrapods thought to have lived in the Late Permian/Early Triassic (e.g. Gorgonopsians, Listosaurus, and Massetognathus) are thought to have given rise to several subspecies, both small rodent mammals and dinosaurs. Dinosaur precursors are often vaguely described as "Triassic archosaurs". But this is only an assumption. Therefore, paleontologists are still tormented by the question of how these powerful animals appeared on our planet, because the fossils of the progenitors of these ancient creatures have not yet been found.

Most of the better known dinosaur species are said to have appeared during the Jurassic period, approximately 200 million years ago. According to evolutionary theorists, dinosaurs flourished during the Cretaceous and became extinct over 65.5 million years ago. Can random mutations natural selection actually turn a small fish into a giant Apatosaurus, even in millions of years? There are serious problems with naturalistic Darwinian scenarios and the accompanying probability arguments. It is also interesting to note that dinosaurs defy evolutionists because different kinds dinosaurs do not have a clear line of evolution and common ancestors (phylogenesis), and transitional candidates are very rare.

Some editions of the Bible say that on the fifth day of creation, God created the great sea ​​monsters and flying creatures. This would include in God's list of great swimming and flying reptiles (such as the plesiosaurs and pterosaurs mentioned on our site). On the sixth day, God created land animals that would include all kinds of dinosaurs (Genesis 1:20-25). It is clear in the scriptures that everything was done for six days, and therefore dinosaurs and man appeared at the same time. “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day” (Exodus 20:11). Naturalists would preclude consideration of such a view of origin, even if there were evidence of intelligent creation. They mistakenly claim that science cannot consider supernatural explanations. However, there is some strong evidence that dinosaurs were artificially created.

Dinosaurs are considered by many to be large, ferocious and extinct reptiles. For the most part, this is true, but there are also a number of misconceptions. Dinosaurs existed in many shapes and sizes. They were the largest land animals of all time, but a large number of dinosaurs were smaller than a turkey.

Fossils show that some of the most advanced dinosaurs had feathers or feather-like body coverings, but many of them did not fly and may not even have glide. Archeopteryx, for a long time thought to be the first bird (although that status is now in doubt) is the best-known example. The feathers of this bird-like dinosaur turned out to be not so much an adaptation for flight as they helped the animal to keep warm.

Many believe that the extinct flying reptiles called pterosaurs were dinosaurs. In fact, they were only their closest relatives. Pterosaurs had hollow bones, relatively large brains and eyes, and, of course, folds of skin along the upper limbs attached to the knuckles. The family includes pterodactyls, which were distinguished by a long bone process on the head and the absence of teeth. Pterosaurs existed before mass extinction 65 million years ago, after which they suffered the fate of dodo birds, marine reptiles and other dinosaurs.

Difference in pelvic bones

For the first time the remains of dinosaurs were discovered in the 19th century. In 1842, paleontologist Richard Owen coined the term, which comes from the Greek "deinos" - "terrible" or "terrifyingly huge" and "sauros" - "lizard" or "reptile". Scientists classify dinosaurs into two groups - lizard and ornithischians, based on the structure of the animal's pelvic bones.

Most of the well-known dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus Rex, Deinonychus, and Velociraptor, belong to the group of lizard dinosaurs. The pelvic bones of these animals are extended forward, as in more primitive creatures. They often had a long neck, large and sharp teeth, a long second finger, and the first finger was pointing perpendicular to the rest.

Lizards are divided into two subgroups - four-legged herbivorous sauropods and bipedal predatory theropods (today's birds are actually theropods).

Theropods walked on two legs and were predators. "Theropod" means "beastfoot" and these were the most fearsome and most expressive dinosaurs, such as allosaurs and tyrannosaurs.

Scientists tried to figure out whether such large theropods as gigantosaurs and spinosaurs were actively hunting, or whether they simply ate skeletons. Evidence indicates that these animals were unscrupulous hunters: they could grab prey, but did not disdain fallen animals. When archaeologists discovered the marked bones, they wondered if the theropods were cannibals. It turned out that the animals could feast on the fallen representatives of their species, but did not actively hunt each other.

Sauropods were herbivores with long necks and tails. They were among the largest animals that ever existed on our planet, but their brains were obviously very small. This family includes slow-moving leaf-eating giants such as Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus, and Diplodocus.

Ornithischians

Meek plant eaters include animals such as the horned Triceratops, the spiked Stegosaurus, and the armored Ankylosaurus.

A distinctive feature of these herbivorous species is the presence of a beak. They were smaller than sauropods, led a gregarious life and often fell prey to large dinosaurs. Interestingly, ornithischians have changed their mode of locomotion from bipedal to quadrupedal at least three times in their evolutionary history.

marine reptiles

In the age of dinosaurs, a lot happened under the surface of the ocean. The seas abounded with creatures such as ichthyosaurs, predators reminiscent of today's tunas and dolphins. This numerous subclass of marine reptiles almost completely died out at the end of the Jurassic.