How did dinosaurs appear on earth? When did dinosaurs live? Dinosaurs in the Triassic period

Dinosaurs (from the Greek dinosauria, deinos - “terrible” and saurus - “lizard”) lived in the Mesozoic era, which is divided into three periods: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. Over the entire history of studying the remains of ancient lizards, paleontologists have been able to identify and describe over 500 different species of these reptiles.

Where and in what territories ancient lizards lived, see the infographics of AiF.ru.

When did the first dinosaurs appear?

The first dinosaurs, archosaurs, appeared 230 million years ago. Typical representatives of the Triassic period were Placerias, Plateosaurus, Coelophysis, Cynodont, and Petheinosaurus. What dinosaurs lived in Russia from the Triassic to Cretaceous periods,

During the Jurassic period, when the Earth established temperate climate, flying lizards appeared (Archaeopteryx, pterodactyl, pterosaur), as well as predatory dinosaurs large sizes(stegosaurus, diplodocus, anurognathus, allosaurus, ankylosaurus and others). The remains of some of them are paleontologists.

During the last period of the Mesozoic era, giant lizards lived on Earth, many of them reaching 5–8 meters in height and 20 meters in length. Typical reptiles of the Cretaceous period: Velociraptor, Seismosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Iguanodon and Culasuchus.

What dinosaurs lived in Russia during the Mesozoic era?

How long did dinosaurs live?

Paleontologists believe that the lifespan of small species ranged from one to two decades, and large dinosaurs could live from 200 to 300 years.

Who inhabited Tula region 300 million years ago,

Why did dinosaurs become extinct?

The changes that occurred on Earth at the end of the Cretaceous period led to the gradual extinction of all types of dinosaurs. Among possible reasons disappearances may be as follows:

• an asteroid that fell to Earth;
• sudden warming and climate change;
• a strong earthquake or volcanic eruption;
• an increase in the number of mammals that ate food familiar to dinosaurs.

What marine animals lived on the territory of Russia in ancient times,

When were dinosaur bones first discovered?

The first dinosaur skeleton was described in the 1820s by British paleontologist William Buckland.

When was the last time a dinosaur was discovered on Russian territory?

The last significant discovery was made in 2014. During the extraction of shale, an almost intact skeleton of an ichthyosaur was discovered.

The scientific world has come to a consensus that living organisms appeared on our planet 4.5 billion years ago. For the first half a billion years of its existence, the living potential of the Earth was very primitive - the world’s “soup” was dominated by the simplest, primitive organisms, by which it was impossible to determine whether it was an animal or a plant.

But already 4.0 billion years ago, evolutionary progress began, and life forms began to become more complex and increase in number. And already by the Cambrian period, i.e., about 550 million years ago, the world's oceans were already inhabited by worms, sponges, mollusks, various species of coelenterates as representatives of the fauna, and on the other hand - algae, representatives of the flora. In the scientific world, this period is called the “Cambrian superexplosion.” This evolutionary explosion gave a further powerful impetus to the development of species. Firstly, there was a specific differentiation between the flora and fauna, and secondly, evolution accelerated significantly, and after several million years in ancient ocean The first vertebrate organisms appeared, and after them the most important creature still living - the lobe-finned fish.

It is the lobe-finned fish that is the transitional chain between sea and land animals. She was found in the 19th century near Madagascar, where she lived and lives peacefully in local waters. Its skeletons had been found before, but a living specimen convincingly proved that the emergence of animals from the sea to land was another one of the most important points in the history of evolution on Earth. The lobe-finned fish tried to reach land with the help of its modified fins, but it could not stay out of the water for a long time, but gradually everything changed, and over the course of approximately 100 million years this transition was realized.

Scientists believe that the first vertebrate land animals appeared on the planet in the Devonian period, because by this time they could feed exclusively on land. They are also called stegocephals or shell-headed amphibians.

The next milestone in the development of species is Carboniferous period. At this time, the first reptiles appeared on Earth. Scientists called them cotylosaurs. Cotylosaurs began to successfully reproduce and destroy stegocephalians. Need to say. that cotylosaurs were the progenitors of all species and subspecies of reptiles on our planet. But for some reason unknown to science, by the middle of the Permian period there was no longer a single cotylosaurus on Earth. They became extinct, and were replaced by a more complex species - therapsids. They are also called animal-like vertebrates.

Therapsids were divided into carnivores and herbivores. They were a megapopulation until the early Triassic period. But then the Permian period came and archosaurs became the “main” on Earth - the most ancient dinosaurs, they are also called thecodonts.

The development of reptiles on the planet proceeded at an accelerated pace and was very productive. Just Mesozoic era has become a paradise for all their species. The Mesozoic includes successively 3 periods.

Triassic

Jurassic period

Cretaceous period

The longest in duration was Mesozoic period— it lasted about 70 million years. In these times, reptiles had no rivals, therefore, having such a heavenly life without shocks and a huge amount of food, animals produced a large number of species. Some of them returned to depths of the sea and, by the way, they very quickly adapted to life in the water. This is how plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs and others appeared aquatic dinosaurs. Evolution presented a revolutionary species in the Mesozoic - flying lizards. They were called pterosaurs.

The Triassic period gave birth to the so-called centenarians - land turtles and crocodiles, they already existed at the end of the Triassic and still feel great today. What fantastic adaptability must be possessed in order to survive thousands of other species that could not withstand disasters and sudden climate changes.

Dinosaurs also appeared on Earth along with turtles and crocodiles at the end of the Triassic period. The oldest dinosaurs were Herrerasaurus and Eoraptor.

The Mesozoic time frame began 235 million years ago and lasted for about 160 million.

Thecodonts are precisely the animals from which dinosaurs evolved. More accurately, they are also called ornithosuchians. These creatures were nimble, slender and ran very fast. Ancient lizards were divided into two categories - lizard-hipped and ornithischian. The pelvic part of some was approximately the same as that of modern reptiles, and in the second category the pelvis resembled the pelvis of birds. In addition, ornithischians had an auxiliary bone that covered their jaws like the beak of birds. There was another mixed category of dinosaurs. These are segnosaurs. Their constitution bore the characteristics of both lizard-hounded and ornithischian groups of their fellow tribesmen. And some structural features of segnosaurs were unique to their species. Based on the remains found, paleontologists concluded that in the Jurassic period the alpha dinosaurs were lizard-hipped. Initially this species was carnivorous. They moved quickly on powerful hind limbs, and deftly grabbed the prey with their front limbs. But as a result of further evolution, herbivorous relatives evolved from them. The diet has changed dramatically, not to mention the amount of vegetation consumed. The weight and size of these creatures simply began to go off scale. Such a huge weight was difficult to support, so they began to use all four limbs to move. Scientists called this species sauropods or lizard-footed dinosaurs because of the structural features of their limbs. This group is represented by 40 genera. Those dinosaurs that continued to walk on 2 legs were called theropods or beast-footed dinosaurs. Theropods were carnivores and there were 150 genera.

The word “dinosaur,” which translates as “terrible lizard,” appeared in 1842, when humanity was just trying to figure out what kind of bones were being discovered during excavations. It was then that the science of paleontology was born. The history of dinosaurs has since been rewritten several times, and this moment There are many versions about their origin, formation and extinction. Let's consider the most common and relatively official option.

The birth of dinosaurs

Attempts to explain in simple language The history of dinosaurs in a film or cartoon has been repeated many times, 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, crocodiles existing at the moment have the most similar features to ancient monsters. About 300 million years ago, when lizards as we know them already existed, a serious climate change occurred. Rainforests were largely destroyed, and the remnants of life huddled in the remaining small enclaves. This gave the first impetus to the enormous diversity 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 in different regions. This is how the ancestors of dinosaurs appeared, scientists called archosaurs.

First types

The history of dinosaurs, at least as they are presented modern man, began approximately 200-245 million years ago. There is practically no exact data about the features and differences of these creatures in comparison with later samples, but one thing can be stated for sure:

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

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

The Last Dinosaurs

The size of the “terrible lizards” gradually increased, and this continued until approximately 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 could simply even conditionally lay claim to dominance on the planet. Even later, in Cretaceous period(65 million years ago), creatures began to become smaller. According to some reports, they developed the rudiments of feathers, and even warm-blooded species arose. Based on available information, the number of predators has decreased significantly, and, accordingly, the number of herbivores has increased. As a result, rare hunters have truly become 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, the information there is more aimed at children, but active volcanoes, drought, lack of food and other similar problems could really cause complete extinction prehistoric rulers of the planet. By official version, it all started with a huge meteorite that fell somewhere in the region of what is now Mexico. Upon impact, a large amount of dust rose into the atmosphere, sharply reducing the temperature on the surface (a similar situation is called “nuclear winter” and could 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, within a short period, almost completely died out. Most likely, some individuals remained, but they could not survive in the new world, in which other dominant species appeared. Many people think that this particular dinosaur story is for children. Allegedly, in reality everything was completely different. Unfortunately, in the future, scientists disagree in their opinions, and no one can yet come up with a clear theory about how everything really happened.

A lot of intriguing and mysterious things are shown in documentaries"The History of Dinosaurs" from popular science channels. True, they cannot be called documentary, since there are no documents, but everything there was reconstructed very competently. Nevertheless, every year more and more discoveries are made that radically change the understanding of dinosaurs as such. Let's see what Interesting Facts opens up to us modern history dinosaurs.

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

Results

The history of dinosaurs is gradually acquiring new data, some of which contradict each other or do not fit into existing theories. For example, it is believed that dinosaurs and people could not have existed in the same period of history. Although there are very interesting stone finds on which ancient people quite reliably depicted the interaction between man and the “terrible lizard.” So far no one can say how everything really happened. We are not able to fully understand even own history, let alone what happened long before the appearance of man as such.

Life on Earth arose about 3000 million years ago. It started with tiny single-celled creatures. Then other life forms began to appear. But dinosaurs populated the planet only 200-230 million years ago. Scientists to this day put forward various theories regarding how dinosaurs appeared, and it is not known which of them is correct.

Ancient world

Different types of dinosaurs lived on Earth in different time: some species died out, others appeared. In general, the era of these creatures lasted more than 150 million years. If we compare the time of human existence with this period, we live only 200,000 years. According to the official version, people and dinosaurs lived in different eras, but rock paintings and various archaeological finds cast doubt on this version.

The word "dinosaur" itself means a terrible or terrible lizard. These creatures were cold-blooded and needed large quantities sunlight. The official version of how dinosaurs came to be says that these creatures evolved from reptiles that lived on the planet before them. The ancestors of dinosaurs lived both on land and in water. They are called archosaurs - ancient lizards. They looked like amphibians and ate plant foods. Ancient lizards had lungs and laid eggs on land. Gradually, reptiles became larger, although the first dinosaurs were small, the size of a chicken. Some species remained this way throughout their existence. Other species became large, they increased in size and became stronger. This is how dinosaurs appeared, which changed and improved over millions of years, populating the Earth.

Ancestors of dinosaurs

So how did dinosaurs come about, who did they come from? It is generally accepted that all dinosaurs descended from thecodonts. These creatures were of various sizes: small, large, medium. They walked on four legs, and some walked on two. It was from them that the first dinosaurs came.

A distinctive feature of thecodonts is that they had special structure skeleton: the place of articulation of the hip and pelvis was such that this type of reptile could move on two legs.

World domination

After dinosaurs appeared, they began to evolve. Gradually, these creatures took over the Earth, becoming the real rulers of the land. Their success in survival lay in the fact that they had a unique evolutionary flexibility and could also eat a wide variety of foods. Dinosaurs could also walk on two legs, which allowed them to cover vast distances. As soon as new living conditions were formed, dinosaurs immediately adapted to them. Because of this feature, new species began to appear: herbivores, carnivores, omnivores. There were giants and there were small individuals. Some creatures grew wings and began to fly.

Secrets of the Age of Dinosaurs

Where dinosaurs came from remains a mystery, as does their demise. Another mystery - did these creatures live in the same era as people or did they become extinct before the advent of humanity? According to scientists, the eras of people and giants differed, although archaeological finds in the form of rock paintings indicate the opposite. Fairy tales and legends of the peoples of the world that talk about ancient lizards and people remain doubtful.

In the sixties of the twentieth century, burials of the pre-Inian period were found in Peru. The stones depicted people and dinosaurs living closely together. This discovery contradicts the official theory of evolution. The stones found depicted a sauropod with spines. Scientists only learned that this creature has spines in the nineties. In addition to the found drawings on stones, the Bible speaks about the existence of humans and dinosaurs in the same era, albeit indirectly. Scientists also found human traces next to dinosaur tracks. And all this remains a mystery, because accepted version humans and dinosaurs lived millions of years apart, but judging by the findings, this is not the case.

Dinosaurs are someone's ancestors

If giants evolved from ancient reptiles, then who descended from dinosaurs, what are the inhabitants of the planet?

Modern animals have some similarities with the ancient inhabitants of the Earth, but only a small part are considered their descendants. During the Jurassic period, Archeopteryx lived, which became the ancestor of birds. Scientists have found many similarities between birds and this type of dinosaur: the presence of scales, the structure of the limbs, and the method of reproduction. The direct ancestors of birds are considered to be Deinonychus, Compsognathus and Struthiomimus, although appearance this cannot be said.

Mammal Ancestors

After the dinosaurs disappeared, mammals began to evolve. Initially they led night image life, settled, constantly developed. Modern mammals evolved from them. For example, once upon a time didelphodons lived on Earth, which had bags. They are similar to modern opossums. The ancient Erythrotherium had the ability to climb trees. This creature is considered the ancestor of monkeys.

Types of dinosaurs

All known species dinosaurs are divided into two large squad: ornithischians and lizards. These units have their own classifications. Thus, there are groups of aquatic, flying, herbivorous, carnivorous dinosaurs and some others. Where did dinosaurs come from and why were they divided into groups?

Since scientists began to find the remains of aquatic representatives, the question has arisen: how are dinosaurs of this group born? Those that move on land, fly, usually lay eggs, and aquatic reproduction occurs either by the creature coming onto land to lay eggs, as modern turtles do, or there were other methods of reproduction.

Among aquatic inhabitants, the most unusual are:

1. Pliosaur. It is considered a predator and ate everything it saw. This creature had no enemies, which is why it attacked first.
2. Ichthyosaur. The first remains of these creatures were found in Russia, but most of the finds were in Germany. These lizards lived in packs, so they could easily repel enemies, and it was easier for them to get food.
3. Mosasaurus. The remains of these saurs have been found all over the planet, even in cold Antarctica. It is believed that monitor lizards originated from this species. The mosasaurus lived in water, moved like a snake, like sea ​​eels.
4. Elasmosaurus. He is considered unusual predator, who could hunt from any distance. This dinosaur easily caught any prey, even the fastest.
5. Shonisaurus. Among aquatic reptiles this creature is considered the largest. It ate squid, shellfish, and some types of octopus.

These are not all representatives water world who inhabited the planet millions of years ago.

Flying species include pterosaur, archeopteryx, pterodactyl, and ornithocheirus. Some of them reached the size of a small airplane.

Most popular predatory dinosaurs are Tyrannosaurus, Megalosaurus, Spinosaurus, Tarbosaurus, Giganotosaurus, Velociraptor.

Representatives of herbivores are Stegosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus, Brontosaurus, Triceratops, Iguanodon.

Why did they become extinct?

Scientists still can't say for sure where dinosaurs came from, but... a bigger mystery what remains is why they became extinct. This happened about 60 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period. At the same time as the giants, marine reptiles, flying representatives, some species of mollusks, and algae became extinct. Scientists estimate that during that period, about 20% of land vertebrates and about 15% sea ​​creatures. The most common theory for this phenomenon is that a meteorite fell in the Yucatan region of the Mexican peninsula.

There are other versions of the reason for the extinction of dinosaurs, including high volcanic activity. About 6 million years ago there was a strong eruption with a gigantic outpouring of magma.

Other scientists suggest that the extinction was caused by the destruction of clutches of eggs, the young first predatory mammals. The possibility of extinction due to a sharp drop in the level of the World Ocean, changes in magnetic field Earth.

Scientists from the University of Reading have put forward a different theory, according to which dinosaurs were already dying out even before the meteorite fell. In their opinion, the extinction caused the emergence of other species. Scientists have assessed the extinction of several thousand dinosaur species. As a result of the work, it was possible to find out that the rate of appearance of new species and the rate of disappearance of old ones are interrelated. And about 80 million years ago, some of the giant species died out, and in their place new creatures appeared inhabiting the planet.