Dinosaurs
Dinosaur, the common name given to a group of reptiles, often very large, that first appeared roughly 245 million years ago (near the beginning of the Middle Triassic Epoch) and thrived worldwide for nearly 180 million years. Most died out by the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 66 million years ago, but many lines of evidence now show that one lineage evolved into birds about 150 million years ago.
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feathered dinosaur
Feathered dinosaur, any of a group of theropod (carnivorous) dinosaurs, including birds, that evolved feathers from a simple filamentous covering at least by the Late Jurassic Epoch (about 163.5 million...
brontosaurus
Brontosaurus, (genus Brontosaurus), genus of large herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs living during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous epochs (163.5 million to 100.5 million years ago). Its fossil was...
Dreadnoughtus
Dreadnoughtus, a genus of large sauropod dinosaurs, the largest land animal that ever lived. It had a total length of roughly 26 metres (about 85 feet) and an estimated mass of 59 metric tons (about 65...
Caudipteryx
Caudipteryx, genus of small feathered theropod dinosaurs known from rock deposits of western Liaoning province, China, that date from about 125 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous (146 million...
Velociraptor
Velociraptor, (genus Velociraptor), sickle-clawed dinosaur that flourished in central and eastern Asia during the Late Cretaceous Period (99 million to 65 million years ago). It is closely related to the...
Allosaurus
Allosaurus, (genus Allosaurus), large carnivorous dinosaurs that lived from 150 million to 144 million years ago during the Late Jurassic Period; they are best known from fossils found in the western United...
stegosaur
Stegosaur, any of the plated dinosaur species, including Stegosaurus and Tuojiangosaurus of the Late Jurassic period (about 161 million to 146 million years ago) and Wuerhosaurus of the Early Cretaceous...
Sue
Sue, nickname for one of the most complete and best-preserved skeletons of Tyrannosaurus rex. The fossil was dated to approximately 67 million years ago. Measuring 12.8 metres (42 feet) long, Sue is among...
tyrannosaur
Tyrannosaur, any of a group of predatory dinosaurs that lived from the late Jurassic Period (about 150 million years ago) to the end of the Cretaceous Period (about 65 million years ago), at which time...
Struthiomimus
Struthiomimus, (genus Struthiomimus), ostrichlike dinosaurs found as fossils from the Late Cretaceous Period (99 million to 65 million years ago) in North America. Struthiomimus (meaning “ostrich mimic”)...
Spinosaurus
Spinosaurus, genus of theropod dinosaurs belonging to the family Spinosauridae, known from incomplete North African fossils that date to Cenomanian times (roughly 100 to 94 million years ago). Spinosaurus,...
Triceratops
Triceratops, (genus Triceratops), large quadrupedal plant-eating ceratopsian dinosaur that had a frill of bone at the back of its skull and three prominent horns. Fossils of “three-horned face,” as its...