Term 'dinosaurs', or the scientific version 'Dinosauria', describesĪ diverse group of animals with widely different modes of living. Of a large, fierce meat-eater like Tyrannosaurus rex.

Richard Fortey writes in his book, Life: An Unauthorised Biography, 'A common perception of geological history is that the world moved rapidly from a kind of greenish primeval soup through to the dinosaurs, which then (mysteriously) became extinct leaving the world free to be populated by people wearing skins over one shoulder and carrying clubs.' (p.242).ĭinosaurs seem to have a fascination about them, like monster stories from Greek mythology, and the knowledge among the public about some species from the dinosaur families exceeds by far knowledge about some existing modern life forms.ĭinosaurs occupy a particular niche in the public mind the very word conjures up images of gigantic fearsome beasts that ruled the Earth long ago, reigning for some 160 million years, and then mysteriously vanishing with only their titanic bones as evidence of their existence.ĭinosaurs were animals that evolved into many sizes and shapes.ĭinosaurs were quite diverse, and while one person will associateĭinosaurs with a long-necked animal (sauropod), others will think

Plateosaurus walking with dinosaurs