Page 46 - DINOSOUR ATLAS

EuropE
Europe’s First Dinosaurs

The firsT dinosaurs to wander across Europe appeared in the Late Triassic,
about 225 million years ago. At this time, Europe was at the northern edge
of the Pangaea supercontinent, lying close to the equator. The temperature +).'$/-
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was high and the environment dry. In the north coastal zone conditions "RISTOL '%2-!.9
were more suitable for plants and animals, and it was here that Plateosaurus (ALLE
3TUTTGART
and other herbivores lived, feeding on the region’s ginkgoes and " 5 - " / 5 * $ 0 $ & " / 3TRASBOURG :URICH
other vegetation. There were also early meat-eaters, such as &2!.#% 37)4:%2,!.$
Liliensternus. These primitive dinosaurs were ancestors of the )
more advanced species that came after them in later periods. 4 ! , 9

, GINKGo . F E J U F S S B O F B O 4 F B
The ginkgo, which is also u SITE LoCATIoN
known as the maidenhair tree,
is a “living fossil” that can be More than 50 European locations have produced
seen growing today. Its Late Triassic dinosaur fossils. Many of these sites
ancestors first appeared are concentrated in Germany and France, where
some 270 million years ancient rocks once formed the northern edge of
ago, and fossils of their the Pangaea supercontinent.
fan-shaped leaves are found
in many parts of the world.

pLATEoSAuruS SKELEToN
The real-life positions of Plateosaurus bones
can be reconstructed with accuracy because
several articulated skeletons have been
found. In this reconstruction, at a museum
in Germany, an adult Plateosaurus is
shown rearing up from all fours
as if to reach high into a tree
to feed on some leaves.

taiL was about
half the length of
the dinosaur
u pLATEoSAuruS
each hand Perhaps Europe’s best known Late Triassic dinosaur,
had five digits, but
only the thumb had a Plateosaurus comes from sites in Germany, France, and
Long foot bones long, curved claw Switzerland. An ancestor of the giant plant-eaters of the
suggest it walked on its Jurassic, it walked on all fours, and may have reared up
toes, not on flat feet
on its hind legs to reach high-growing leaves. It could
just as easily have grazed on ground plants.
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