Dinosaurier

Here you see our earth as it looks today! We humans live spread over five continents. What we calll continents are large tectonic plates that are in motion still today. But what did the earth look like at the age of the dinosaurs? In order to answer this we must again occupy ourselves with time. As the dinosaurs lived on earth over a very long time, their age was divided into three periods. For a better understanding we look again at your ring finger. The ring finger represents the age of the dinosaurs. Your finger has three segments and you can imagine the three periods of the dinosaur age just like that. Let us have a look at the lower segment first. It is theTriassic period. In the Triassic period, about 225 million years ago, lived the first dinosaurs. The earth consisted of one big tectonic plate. This large continent was called Pangaea. We do not know exactly what the weather was like in those times but it is assumed that it was hot and dry. Most probably the land was desertlike but along the rivers and coasts ferns and horse tails grew.There were also conifers and mammoth trees. In search of food the dinosaurs roamed across the territories of Pangaea thus reaching all parts of the continent. The second segment of your ring finger is the Jurassic period. In the Jurassic period, about 205 to 135 million years ago, the world of the dinosaurs changed very much. Over millions of years, Pangaea broke apart. New continents were created and between them increasingly bigger seas and oceans appeared. This disruption caused the desertlike regions to disappear. The climate became more humid and warmer. Therefore new plants and also new dinosaurs could develop. The upper segment of your ring finger is the Cretaceous period. In the Cretaceous age, about 135 to 65 million years ago, the landscape changed more and more. The continents were pushed more and more apart and the seas became wider and deeper. The climate cooled down somewhat. The first flowering plants appeared as well as plants and trees we know still today such as the oak and the maple tree.