THE DINOSAURS For millions of years creatures known as dinosaurs roamed freely on Earth Dinosaurs lived more than 220 million years ago Dicraeosaurus Length up to 65 feet 20 m 4
5 For a long time scientists thought that dinosaurs were a type of reptile However reptiles are cold-blooded and scientists now think that dinosaurs were warm-blooded This makes them more like mammals IT’S AMAZING There were more than 1,000 different types of dinosaurs Not all of them were enormous Some such as the compsognathus were the same size as chickens Compsognathus Length up to 2 feet 65 cm Stegosaurus Length up to 30 feet 9 m
DINOSAUR TIMES When the dinosaurs were alive 220 million years ago the Earth looked very different from the way it does now Millions of years ago the continents were all joined together into one supercontinent Over time the land broke up into separate pieces The center of the supercontinent was a very dry hot desert Dinosaurs lived close to the edges of the land where they could find water to drink and plants to eat Earth today Africa Supercontinent Europe Asia Australia Antarctica South America North America Earth 230 million years ago Earth 160 million years ago 6
7 As the supercontinent broke apart the sea divided the land The climate became much warmer and wetter This meant that plants could grow in more places and dinosaurs could live in more places too Buzzing Around When flowering plants started growing on the Earth other creatures such as bees and butterflies appeared too
