Page 16 - DINOSOUR ATLAS

dinosaur atlas
Cretaceous World

The warm, damp climaTes that had developed in the Jurassic continued into the
Cretaceous Period, enabling the dinosaurs and other reptiles to keep evolving new
forms as older ones became extinct. Some groups like the giant sauropods became
less prominent, but many others flourished until the mass extinction at the end of
the era. Meanwhile, the supercontinents of Laurasia and Gondwana were breaking
up and very high sea levels flooded many continental areas that are now dry land.

CrEtaCEous GloBE .
The shifting plates of the Earth’s
crust opened great rifts in
Laurasia and Gondwana, ripping
them apart to form the basis of
the continents we recognize
today. The Atlantic began to
open up as the Americas were
pulled west, away from Europe
and Africa, but India had still
not collided with Asia.

Mosasaurus .
u VEloCiraPtor
The ichthyosaurs had
The carnivorous theropods evolved into agile, virtually died out by the
pack-hunting forms like Velociraptor, as well as Cretaceous, and their
giant tyrannosaurs. Recent research shows place was taken by giant
that Velociraptor may have had feathers.
marine lizards called
mosasaurs. Mosasaurus
had jaws like a crocodile,
but paddlelike limbs.

, CHanGinG sEasons
Climates became more seasonal, with wet and
dry seasons in some places, and winters and
summers in others. Many forests were
dominated by conifers and cycads,
but broad-leaved trees such as
oaks and beeches had appeared.

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