Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Life: The Amazing History of Earth’s Most Incredible Animals

162 Pages·2019·81.601 MB·English

by  Darren Naish, Chris Barker

S M I T H S O N I A N
WHERE ON EARTH ?
DINOSAURS
A N D O T H E R P R E H I S T O R I C L I F E
Written by Chris Barker and Darren Naish
Consultant Darren Naish
US_001_310547_Half_title.indd 1 09/11/2018 11:19
S
Senior editor Ashwin Khurana T
Senior art editors Rachael Grady, Stefan Podhorodecki
US editor Kayla Dugger US executive editor Lori Hand
Senior cartographic editor Simon Mumford
Editors Ann Baggaley, Chris Hawkes, Sarah MacLeod
Designers Chrissy Barnard, David Ball, Angela Ball N Rise of the
Illustrators James Kuether, Adam Benton,
Stuart Jackson-Carter, Peter Minister, Simon Mumford
dinosaurs
Creative retouching Steve Crozier, Stefan Podhorodecki
Paleogeography maps Colorado Plateau Geosystems Inc
Timeline of Earth 8
Jacket editor Emma Dawson Jacket designer Surabhi Wadha E
Early life 10
Jacket design development manager Sophia MTT
Picture researcher Deepak Negi Triassic world 12
Senior producer, pre-production Andy Hilliard
Jurassic world 14
Senior producer Mary Slater
T
Cretaceous world 16
Managing editor Francesca Baines
Managing art editor Philip Letsu What is a dinosaur? 18
Publisher Andrew Macintyre
Associate publishing director Liz Wheeler
Art director Karen Self N
Design director Phil Ormerod
Publishing director Jonathan Metcalf
First American Edition, 2019
Published in the United States by DK Publishing
O
1450 Broadway, 8th floor, New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2019 Dorling Kindersley Limited
North America
DK, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC
19 20 21 22 23 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
001–310547–Mar/2019 Coelophysis 22
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Stegosaurus 24
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under the copyright Three against one 26
reserved above, no part of this publication may be
Allosaurus 28
reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any Ceratosaurus 30
means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
Diplodocus 32
recording, or otherwise), without the prior written
permission of the copyright owner. Yutyrannus Corythosaurus 34
Published in Great Britain by
Dorling Kindersley Limited Albertosaurus 36
Ankylosaurus 38
A catalog record for this book is
available from the Library of Congress Tyrannosaurus 40
ISBN 978-1-4654-7963-1
Daylight attack 42
Printed and bound in Malaysia Triceratops 44
Pachycephalosaurus 46
A WORLD OF IDEAS:
SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW Fossil finds 48
www.dk.com
Established in 1846, the Smithsonian—the world’s largest museum,
education, and research complex—includes 19 museums and
galleries and the National Zoological Park. The total number of
artifacts, works of art, and specimens in the Smithsonian’s collection
is estimated at 154 million. The Smithsonian is the world’s largest
Coelophysis
museum and research complex, dedicated to public education,
national service, and scholarship in the arts, sciences, and history.
US_002-003_310547_Imprint_Contents.indd 2 13/11/2018 16:56
South America Africa Australia and
Herrerasaurus 52 Mesosaurus 92 Antarctica
Chilesaurus 54 Lystrosaurus 94
Cryolophosaurus 122
Giganotosaurus 56 Giraffatitan 96
A welcome discovery 124
Fighting it out 58 Spinosaurus 98
Muttaburrasaurus 126
Argentinosaurus 60 A fish dinner 100
Leaellynasaura 128
Carnotaurus 62 Fossil finds 102
Fossil finds 130
Fossil finds 64
Europe Asia After the
Plateosaurus 68 Shunosaurus 106 dinosaurs
Muddy swamps 70 Psittacosaurus 108
Titanoboa 134
Ophthalmosaurus 72 Yutyrannus 110
Gastornis 136
Archaeopteryx 74 Surprise attack 112
Basilosaurus 138
Iguanodon 76 Microraptor 114
Smilodon 140
Baryonyx 78 Velociraptor 116
Woolly mammoth 142
Polacanthus 80 Fossil finds 118
Hunting in the grasslands 144
Pelecanimimus 82
Varanus priscus 146
Hatzegopteryx 84
Today’s catch 86
Fossil finds 88
Hatzegopteryx
Polacanthus
Reference
Fossilization 150
Early fossils and hunters 152
Mass extinctions 154
Glossary 156
Index 158
Giraffatitan Acknowledgments 160
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Foreword
My adventures as a paleontologist have taken me “ranges,” which provide them with what
to many exciting places at home, in the UK, and they need to survive. Imagine a forest-
abroad, and led to the discovery of new species. dwelling, fruit-eating animal such as an
Working with teams of colleagues, I named the orangutan. It cannot live anywhere but
new dinosaurs Eotyrannus, Xenoposeidon, and in a forest, and that must be a forest
Mirischia, and the pterosaurs Vectidraco and with the right kind of fruit trees.
Eurazhdarcho. One of the things that interests Some animals still live in the lands
me most about dinosaurs, giant marine reptiles, of their ancestors, while others have
and other ancient animals is that every one of broadened their range, driven by
them has a unique history, just as animals do today. factors such as climate and the
slow shift of continents. In some
In this book, you’ll meet a huge variety of creatures cases, animals can discover new
that lived on our planet in the prehistoric past, habitats by swimming or flying.
mostly during the “age of the dinosaurs,” around
235–66 million years ago. The stories about them How our planet changed over millions of years,
here focus on where animals once lived and what and how animals adapted to those changes,
this can tell us about them. are exciting ideas. Exploring them will help us to
Wild animals today live in picture prehistoric species as
specific areas, known as
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Understanding the locator globes
Earth’s landmasses have changed over time, so
alongside every main map showing when and where
the prehistoric animal lived, you will also find a globe
to show you this area relative to modern-day Earth.
the living
animals they once
were. Using the latest ATLANTIC
OCEAN
and most up-to-date maps, this PACIFIC
OCEAN
book shows the ranges ancient animals INDIAN
OCEAN
might have had, and what the world looked
like when they were alive. In many cases,
our knowledge is incomplete, and the true
The first layer is the modern-day map of Earth,
ranges of these animals have yet to be
outlining three major oceans.
properly discovered.
I hope that this book inspires you to be interested
in Earth’s fascinating prehistoric past and perhaps
to make scientific discoveries yourself if you’re
lucky enough to have the opportunity.
Dr. Darren Naish
This second, light-green layer shows what Earth’s landmass would
have looked like when the profiled animal lived.
The third, dark-green layer represents the specific region shown
in the larger map featured on the pages.
The final layer in red locates the roaming range of the profiled
animal, as reflected on the larger map.
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US_006-007_310547_Opener_Rise_Dinos.indd 6 26/10/2018 16:07
E
S
H
R
TU

A
F
S
O
O

E
N
S
I
I
D
R
Triassic encounter
Alarmed by the appearance
of the fearsome meat-eating
reptile Postosuchus, a group of
Coelophysis scurry frantically
around. Another reptile,
Desmatosuchus, moves
wisely in the other direction.
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Hominids
A group of primates appear,
leading to the evolution of
the great apes and,
eventually, humans.
Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs appear in the
Late Triassic, 235 million years
ago, following a mass extinction
at the end of the Permian.
Mammals
The ancestors of modern
woolly mammals evolve over TODAY
mammoth 320 million years ago.
C
M E
E N
Land plants S O
O Z
The first plants appear PA ZO OIC
on land in the Ordovician, LE IC
O
at least 450 million years ago. Z
OIC 12
11 1
Animals
Around 600 million years
ago, ancient animals such as
sponges first appear, leaving
10
behind occasional traces
in the fossil record.
Timeline
9
of Earth
8
Earth is old—4.6 billion years old, in
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fact. Yet estimates suggest our planet OI
Z
O
R
E
formed relatively rapidly, within only OT 7 5
R
P
10–20 million years. Rocks and metals 6
floating in our Solar System began
clumping together to form a large
object spinning around an early Sun. Multicellular life
Some eukaryotes
Denser metals sank to the hot middle
evolve into multicellular
life forms; these are
of the tough, rocky sphere to become
the ancestors of plants,
Earth’s core, while lighter rocks fungi, and animals.
formed a crust, shaping Earth
Eukaryotes
as we know it. Eurkaryotes, which are more
complex life forms than
prokaryotes, evolve over
two billion years ago.
8
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