Our planet is several billion years old, and man appeared on it not so long ago. And millions of years ago, completely different creatures dominated the Earth - powerful, fast and huge. Of course, we are talking about dinosaurs that populated almost the entire surface of the planet many centuries ago. The number of species of these animals is quite large, and with certainty we can say that dinosaurs and the Jurassic world as a whole were the most diverse. And this era can be considered the heyday of the life of all flora and fauna.
Life is everywhere
The Jurassic period was 200-150 million years ago. For that time a rather hot climate was characteristic. Dense vegetation, lack of snow and cold made life on earth everywhere: on land, in air and in water. The increased humidity led to the violent growth of plants, which became the food of herbivores, which grew to gigantic proportions. But they, like smaller animals, served as food for predators, whose diversity is quite interesting.
The level of the oceans was much higher than now, and the favorable climate led to a rich diversity of life in the water. The shallows were teeming with mollusks and small animals, which became food for large marine predators. No less intense was life in the air. Flying Jurassic dinosaurs - pterosaurs - seized dominance in the sky. But at the same time the ancestors of modern birds appeared, in the wings of which there were no leather membranes, and feathers arose.
Herbivorous dinosaurs
The Jurassic era gave the world many large reptiles. Most of them reached fantastically gigantic proportions. The largest dinosaur of the Jurassic period - a diplodocus that lived in the territory of the modern United States, reached a length of 30 meters and weighed almost 10 tons. It is noteworthy that the animal ate not only plant foods, but also stones. This was necessary so that small stones rubbed the vegetation and the bark of trees in the stomach of the animal. After all, the teeth of the diplodocus were very small, no more than a human nail, and could not help the animal carefully chew plant food.
No less large brachiosaurus had a mass exceeding the weight of 10 elephants, and reached 30 meters in height. This animal lived on the territory of modern Africa and ate the leaves of conifers and cypresses. Such a giant easily absorbed nearly half a ton of plant foods per day and preferred to settle near water bodies.
An interesting representative of the herbivores of this era - the centrosaur - lived on the territory of modern Tanzania. This Jurassic dinosaur was interesting for its body structure. There were large plates on the back of the animal, and the tail is covered with large spikes that help fight off predators. The animal was about 2 meters high and up to 4.5 meters long. A centrosaur weighed a little more than half a ton, making it the most agile dinosaur.
Jurassic Predatory Dinosaurs
A variety of herbivores leads to the emergence of a large number of predators, because nature always keeps a balance. The largest and bloodthirsty dinosaur of the Jurassic period - the allosaurus, reached a length of almost 11 meters and a height of 4 meters. This predator weighing 2 tons hunted in the United States and Portugal and earned the title of fastest runner.
He ate not only small animals, but, uniting in groups, hunted even for very large prey, for example apatosaurs or camarasaurs. For this, a sick or young individual was beaten off the herd by joint efforts, and then collectively devoured.
A fairly well-known dilophosaurus, which lived in the territory of modern America, reached three meters in height and weighed up to 400 kilograms.
A fast predator with characteristic crests on the head, a rather vivid representative of that period, similar to tyrannosaurs. He hunted for small dinosaurs, but in a pair or a flock he could attack an animal that significantly exceeded its size. Great maneuverability and speed allowed the dilophosaurus to catch even a fairly fast and miniature scutellosaurus.
Marine life
Susha is not the only place inhabited by dinosaurs, and the Jurassic world in the water was also diverse and multifaceted. A striking representative of that era was the plesiosaurus. This waterfowl predatory lizard had a neck length and reached a length of up to 18 meters. The structure of the skeleton with a short but rather wide tail and powerful fins, reminiscent of oars, allowed this predator to develop great speed and reign in the depths of the sea.
An equally interesting marine dinosaur of the Jurassic period is an ichthyosaur, similar to a modern dolphin. Its feature was that, unlike other lizards, this predator gave birth to live cubs, and did not lay eggs. Reached ichthyosaurus 15 meters in length and hunted for smaller prey.
Kings of heaven
Towards the end of the Jurassic period, small pterodactyl predators conquered the sky. The wingspan of this animal reached one meter. The body of the predator was small and did not exceed half a meter, the weight of an adult reached 2 kilograms. The predator could not take off, and before flying, he had to climb a rock or ledge. Pterodactyl ate fish, which he could see at a considerable distance. But he himself sometimes became a victim of predators, because on land he was rather slow and clumsy.
Another representative of the flying dinosaurs was ramforinh. Slightly larger than pterodactyl, this predator weighed three kilograms and had a wingspan of up to two meters. Habitat - Central Europe. A feature of this winged dinosaur was a long tail. Sharp teeth and powerful jaws made it possible to catch slippery and wet prey, and the basis of the animal's diet was fish, mollusks and, surprisingly, small pterodactyls.
Living world
The world in that era is striking in its diversity: far from the only population of the Earth at that time were dinosaurs. And animals of the Jurassic period of other classes were quite common. Indeed, it was then, thanks to good conditions, that turtles appeared in the form that we are now familiar with. Frog-like amphibians proliferated, which became food for small dinosaurs.
The seas and oceans were teeming with many species of fish, such as sharks, stingrays and other cartilaginous and bony. Cephalopods, they are belemnites, made up the lowest link in the food chain, but their polynomial population supported life in the water. In this period, crustaceans appear, such as barnacles, leaf-footed and decapods, as well as freshwater sponges.
Intermediate
The Jurassic period is notable for the appearance of bird ancestors. Of course, Archeopteryx was not so much like a modern bird, it was rather a mini-raptor with feathers.
But a later ancestor, aka Longiperix, already resembled a modern kingfisher. Although birds for that era are a rather rare occurrence, it is they who give rise to a new round of evolution of the animal world. Dinosaurs of the Jurassic period (photo above) have died out long ago, but even now, looking at the remains of such giants, you are awestruck before these giants.