Dinosaurs existed millions of years ago before humans. They lived during the Mesozoic Era and were prehistoric reptiles that ruled the Earth around 160 million years ago. Dinosaurs died out millions of years ago but have fascinated people ever since their fossils were first discovered and described in the early 1800s.
2. M illio n s o f
ye a r s a g o ,
Great beasts called
"dinosaurs" thundered
over the earth.
Yet up until the last
century, when the
first dinosaur fossils
were discovered, no
one even imagined
such animals existed.
3. D in o s a u r s
Before there were any people there
were dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs were one of several kinds
of prehistoric reptiles that lived during
the Mesozoic Era the “Age of the
Reptiles”
4. Dinosaur is the name of a group of
prehistoric reptiles that ruled the earth
about 160 million years ago.
These animals died out millions of
years ago, but they have fascinated
people ever since they were first
described in the early 1800’s.
6. Dinosaur Nat ional Monument
Ut ah/Colorado
A stony frieze at one of the continent’s largest
and richest dinosaur quarries holds the bones of
beasts that ruled the Jurassic: stegosaurs,
allosaurs, apatosaurs and many more.
7. The first dinosaur to be described
scientifically was Megalosaurus
in 1824, by William Buckland.
Buckland (1784-1856) was a
Britishfossil hunter and
clergyman who discovered
some Megalosaurus fossils in
1819 and named the reptile
in 1824. It was the first dinosaur
ever described scientifically and
first theropod dinosaur discovered
(this is all in hindsight, because the dinosaurs had not yet been
recognized as a separate taxonomic group - the word dinosaur
hadn't even been invented yet).
13. Where Did Everybody Go?
You may have
noticed that there
are no dinosaurs
around these days.
In fact, there haven't
been any around for
about 66 million
years.
14. Well, we don’t know
the real absolute
theory of how they
became extinct, but----
One thing for sure is……….
We will have an incredible time going
back in time to learn about these
marvelous creatures.