Page 57 - The Dinosaur Book and Other Wonders of the Prehistoric World (DK-Smithsonian)
P. 57
Postosuchus had Archosaurs like
a huge head. Postosuchus
The armor of preyed on early
small, bony plates dinosaurs.
protected its back.
Slender and agile,
Effigia ran on two
legs like a bird.
The crocodilelike
powerful jaws were
packed with sharp teeth.
Postosuchus
The jaws of this Edaphosaurus
plant-eating animal
were lined with
numerous blunt teeth.
was among the largest of these animals. A few animals that eventually included crocodylians,
similar animals survived the catastrophic mass pterosaurs, dinosaurs, and birds. Some of
extinction at the end of the Permian and evolved the more powerful Triassic archosaurs, like
into cynodonts, which became the ancestors of Postosuchus, were the top predators of their
modern mammals. Meanwhile, the reptile line time. Others, including Effigia, were very
had given rise to archosaurs—the group of similar to the first dinosaurs. 55
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