Dinosaurs PDF
Preview Dinosaurs
Step back into the land that time forgot and meet prehistoric the creatures that roamed the Earth. now fu inclnudes See gentle giants, fearsome predators, and flying reptiles! activities Meet enormous underwater sea serpents, watch skyscraping sauropods feed on treetops, and comTee sfat cyeeoi-guthro tk- pfnaaocgwee lwse diotghf e at whaen Dwei dsskwc oiohwnvmae.gdrv ekmeo. oc farl oeocd mattitsniv ooistfi aefuusrn!s w, tihthe$$ t e11r01r..i99fy99i nUCgaS nTAa. dr eaPrxinte.d in China (t-rex); Nataliya Hora (background). All other images © Dorling Kindersley For further information see: www.dkimages.comL. Braun - modelmaker tr; Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Alberta, Canada bl. Spine: Dreamstime.com: Boborsillo Jacket images: Front: Dreamstime.com: Boborsillo (t-rex); Nataliya Hora (background). Back: Dorling Kindersley: Robert Open your eyes to a world o f d i s c o v e r y US_001_title.indd 1 29/01/13 10:33 AM Contents LONDON, NEW YORK, MUNICH, 4-5 MELBOURNE, and DELHI What is a dinosaur? Written and edited by Sarah Walker and Samantha Gray Designed by Janet Allis 6-7 Publishing manager Mary Ling Dinosaur times Managing art editor Rachael Foster US editor Margaret Parrish Picture researcher Jo Haddon Production Kate Oliver 8-9 DTP designer Almudena Díaz Skeletons Consultant David Lambert REVISED EDITION DK UK 10-11 Senior editor Caroline Stamps Different dinosaurs Senior art editor Rachael Grady Jacket design Natasha Rees Jacket design development manager Sophia M Tampakopoulos Turner 12-13 Jacket editor Manisha Majithia Dinosaur world Producer (print production) Rita Sinha Producers (pre-production) Francesca Wardell, Rachel Ng Publisher Andrew Macintyre 14-15 Little and large DK INDIA Senior editor Priyanka Nath Senior art editor Rajnish Kashyap Art editor Deep Shikha Walia 16-17 Assistant editor Deeksha Saikia On the move Managing editor Alka Thakur Hazarika Managing art editor Romi Chakraborty DTP designer Anita Yadav 18-19 Picture researcher Sumedha Chopra First American Edition, 2001 Plant-eaters This American Edition, 2013 Published in the United States by 20-21 DK Publishing 375 Hudson Street Hungry herds New York, New York 10014 13 14 15 16 17 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 001—192756—05/2013 22-23 Copyright © 2001, © 2013 Dorling Kindersley Limited Meat-eaters All rights reserved Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or 24-25 by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the Pack hunters copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. 26-27 A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Tough tactics ISBN 978-1-4654-0905-8 DK books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or 28-29 educational use. For details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets, 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 or Camouflage [email protected]. Color reproduction by Scanhouse, Malaysia Printed and bound in China by Hung Hing 30-31 Discover more at Courtship www.dk.com US_002-003_contents.indd 2 08/02/13 11:10 AM 32-33 Nests and nurseries 34-35 High flyers 36-37 Under the waves 38-39 Brain power 40-41 Death of the dinosaurs 42-43 Digging up dinosaurs 44-45 Building dinosaurs 46-47 True or false? 48-49 Dinosaur danger 50-51 Facts matchup 52-53 Which way? 54-55 Glossary and Animal alphabet 56 Index and Acknowledgments US_002-003_contents.indd 3 29/01/13 10:33 AM What is a dinosaur? Dinosaurs roamed the Earth for over 150 million years, then mysteriously died out. These reptiles varied from fierce killers to gentle plant-eaters. Lifelike models help us to imagine what they looked like. Lizard legs Like modern reptiles, most dinosaurs had scaly skin, a long tail, teeth, and claws. Today’s reptiles have legs that splay sideways. Dinosaurs had straight legs directly below their bodies. Sharp teeth lined the powerful jaws of many meat-eating dinosaurs. Short arms were used for grasping prey. Feathered friends It is likely that not all dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. Some small, feathered dinosaurs may have survived. Today’s birds probably descend from them. Birds have feet like those of many dinosaurs. Motherly love Clues to how dinosaurs behaved come from today’s reptiles. Crocodiles are survivors from prehistoric times. They feed their babies and protect them. Some dinosaurs probably did this, too. 4 US_004-005_whatisdino.indd 4 29/01/13 10:31 AM Creature features Dinosaurs had different features to equip them for survival. Meat-eating dinosaurs had sharp teeth and claws for hunting. Some plant-eaters grew to vast sizes. Others had natural weapons such as horns. Some dinosaurs had a row of spines along their backs, from head to tail. Large tail helped dinosaurs to balance as they leaned forward. Most dinosaurs had bumpy, scaly skin. Muscular hind legs allowed meat-eaters to chase their prey. Dinosaur facts •Dinosaurs were the biggest land animals of all time, although some whales, such as the blue whale, are larger. •Flying reptiles lived at the same time as the dinosaurs, but no dinosaur could fly. •There were prehistoric swimming reptiles, but no dinosaurs swam in the sea. 5 US_004-005_whatisdino.indd 5 29/01/13 10:31 AM Dinosaur times The age of the dinosaurs is known as the Mesozoic era. This stretched from 248 to 65 million years ago. It divides into three separate time spans: the Triassic, the Jurassic, Jurassic world and the Cretaceous. Over millions of years, Pangaea split into two continents, Gondwana and The Triassic period lasted from 248 to Laurasia. As these drifted 206 million years ago. apart, different groups of dinosaur evolved on each continent. Triassic world At the start of the Mesozoic era, the continents were joined together into one supercontinent— Pangaea. This was surrounded by a massive ocean called Panthalassa. Small beginnings The Triassic world saw the first small dinosaurs. Like most early dinosaurs, meat- eating Herrerasaurus (he-rair- a-sore-us) walked on its hind legs. US_006-007_dinosaurtimes.indd 6 29/01/13 10:31 AM The Jurassic period lasted from 206 to 144 million years ago. The Cretaceous period lasted from 144 to 65 million years ago. Cretaceous world The continents continued to drift apart and Earth began to look like it does today. The vast mountain ranges of the Andes and the Rockies were formed. Dinosaur heyday Land of the giants The great variety of Late in the Jurassic period, Cretaceous dinosaurs giant sauropods roamed in included horned plant- huge conifer forests, while eaters like Pentaceratops Stegosaurus (steg-oh-sore-us) (pen-ta-serra-tops) and ate low-growing plants. huge meat-eaters such Ichthyosaurs (ick-thee-oh- as Tyrannosaurus Rex sores) swam in the seas. (tie-ran-o-sore-us recks). US_006-007_dinosaurtimes.indd 7 29/01/13 10:31 AM Skeletons Narrow jaw with sharp teeth A skeleton tells a story. Teeth or bony beaks give information about what dinosaurs probably ate. Features such as horns show how they defended Small sprinter themselves. Small braincases tell us A fossilized skeleton shows that Coelophysis (see-low-fye-sis) had long which dinosaurs had small brains! legs for its small size. Only 10 ft (3 m) long, it could run fast. Spiked plant-eater A Late Jurassic dinosaur, Stegosaurus Bony plate (steg-oh-sore-us) was probably no more than 10 ft (3 m) high. It had bony plates along Small head iftles xbiabclek .a Intds smpioksetd l itkaeilly w as b o u t 9 0 f t ( 2 7 m). a d used for defense. u r e m e a s Lhionndg l e gs From head to tail, vast Diplodo c u s Short front legs Tail spike n w hole. o Tyrannosauru s r e x c o u l d h ave swallowed a p e rs Large head with huge, hinged jaws Stiff, heavy Massive meat-eater tail helped balance. Meat-eaters such as Tyrannosaurus rex Powerful hind legs (tie-ran-oh-sore-us recks) had massive jaws. They could open these extra wide to swallow large mouthfuls of flesh. US_008-009_skeletons.indd 8 29/01/13 10:31 AM
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