DINOSAUR TIMELINE

To better understand dinosaurs, a good first step is to understand when dinosaurs lived in relation to the human existence.

Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for more than 165 million years during the Mesozoic Era. These millions of years are divided into sections called periods: Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous.
The dinosaurs in GIANTS: African Dinosaurs are from the Cretaceous Period. Humans appear after the Mesozoic Era in the later period of the Cenozoic Era.

DINOSAUR TIMELINE

Just as our Earth is changing today, it was very different millions of years ago.

During the Triassic period, the climate of  Pangaea (the supercontinent) was hot and dry with rain seasons. There the first tree ferns and coniferous trees, and for the first time small, fast dinosaurs appear.

During the Jurassic period, Pangaea began to break apart and there was a significant climate change to more warm and moist. The existing trees became forests and more dinosaurs appeared including the first dinosaur-like bird.

During the Cretaceous period, the continental drift continued at a fast pace with increasing volcanic activity. In the early part of this period, differences in the seasons was low and the dinosaurs flourished. Towards the later part of this period, seasonality increased and there were greater temperature extremes between the poles of the Earth and the equator.

At the end of the Mesozoic Era, about 65 million years ago, the dinosaurs went extinct.