Page 15 - Dinosaur (DK Eyewitness Books)

JURASSIC VEGETATION
Long skull The major types of plant at this time
were those that had flourished in the
Triassic Period. Gymnosperms included Leaves of
Long neck ginkgoes, monkey puzzle trees, and a monkey
cycadeoids such as Williamsonia—a small, puzzle tree
stumpy tree with palmlike fronds that sprouted
from the top. Meadows of ferns, horsetails, and
mosses carpeted damp soil. In drier areas, strips
of forest lined the riverbanks. Flowering plants
had not yet appeared.
Wing made of skin
Cycadlike
leaves

AGILE FLIERS Williamsonia
Jurassic pterosaurs such as Pterodactylus plants
(“wing finger”) had longer necks and
skulls than their Triassic ancestors.
Their short tails made them agile in
the air. Many species of Pterodactylus
lived in Africa and Europe, the largest
with a wingspan of 8 ft (2.4 m). It is likely
that these pterosaurs flew low over water,
their sharp teeth seizing unsuspecting fish.

Powerful jaws

CROCODILE ANCESTOR
Protosuchus (“first crocodile”) belonged
to the same group of reptile as modern
crocodiles and alligators—only remotely
related to dinosaurs. But this animal had
relatively longer and more agile legs and
ran around on land. Protosuchus was a hunter
the size of a large dog, armed with powerful
jaws. It lived early in the Jurassic Period in
present-day Arizona.

Short, stocky trunk

KENTROSAURUS (156 MYA) SINRAPTOR (155 MYA) ARCHAEOPTERYX (150 MYA)
Related to the more famous Stegosaurus, Sinraptor lived in what is now a desert in The crow-sized bird Archaeopteryx had feathered wings
Kentrosaurus (“spiked lizard”) bristled with paired northwest China. This big meat-eater, about and body but also had a theropod’s teeth, claws, tail,
narrow plates or spikes jutting from its neck, back, 25 ft (7.6 m) long, was related to the better-known and scaly legs. Fine-grained limestone rocks of
and tail. This plated dinosaur lived in East Africa. North American theropod Allosaurus. southwest Germany preserve its fossil skeletons.

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