Dinosaur of the Jurassic period and other animals of the Jurassic. World of the Jurassic period (photo)

Our planet is several billion years old, and man appeared on it not long ago. And millions of years ago, absolutely different creatures dominated the Earth - powerful, fast and huge. Of course, we are talking about dinosaurs, populated almost the entire surface of the planet many centuries ago. The number of species of these animals is quite large, and with certainty it can be said that dinosaurs and the world of the Jurassic period as a whole were the most diverse. And this era can be considered the prime of life of all flora and fauna.

Life is everywhere

The Jurassic period lasted 200-150 million years ago. For that time, a rather hot climate is typical. Dense vegetation, lack of snow and cold caused life on earth to be everywhere: on land, in air and in water. The increased humidity of the air led to the violent growth of plants, which became food of herbivores, growing to gigantic proportions. But they, like smaller animals, served as food for predators, the variety of which is quite interesting.

The level of the World Ocean was significantly higher than it is now, and the favorable climate resulted in a rich variety of life in the water. Shoals were swarming with mollusks and small animals, which became food for large marine predators. No less saturated was life in the air. Flying dinosaurs of the Jurassic period - pterosaurs - captured dominance in the sky. But in the same period, the ancestors of modern birds appeared, in the wings of which there were no leather membranes, and feathers were born.

Herbivorous dinosaurs

The era of the Jurassic period gave the world many large reptiles. Most of them reached fantastically gigantic proportions. The largest dinosaur of the Jurassic period, diplodocus, inhabiting the territory of the modern United States, reached a length of 30 meters and weighed almost 10 tons. It is noteworthy that the animal was fed not only by plant food, but also by stones. It was necessary for small pebbles to grind the vegetation and bark of trees in the stomach of the animal. After all, the teeth of the Diplodocus were very small, no more than a human nail, and could not help the animal thoroughly chew vegetable food.

No less than a large brachiosaurus had a mass exceeding the weight of 10 elephants, and reached 30 meters in height. This animal lived in the territory of modern Africa and fed on the leaves of coniferous trees and cycads. Such a giant easily absorbed almost half a ton of plant food per day and preferred to settle near water bodies.

An interesting representative of herbivores of this era - the kentrosaurus - lived on the territory of modern Tanzania. This dinosaur of the Jurassic period was interesting in its structure of the body. On the back of the animal were large plates, and the tail is covered with large spines, helping to fight off predators. The animal was about 2 meters in height and at a length of up to 4.5 meters. Kentrosaurus weighed a little more than half a ton, which made it the most mobile dinosaur.

Carnivorous dinosaurs of the Jurassic period

The variety of herbivores leads to the emergence and a large number of predators, because nature always keeps a balance. The largest and bloodthirsty dinosaur of the Jurassic period, the Allosaurus, reached a length of almost 11 meters, and in height was 4 meters. This predator with a weight of 2 tons hunted in the US and Portugal and earned the title of the fastest runner. He ate not only small animals, but, joining in groups, he hunted even for very large prey, for example apatosaurs or kamarazaurs. For this, a sick or a young individual was beaten by a common effort from the herd, after which they were collectively devoured.

A fairly well-known dilofosaur, inhabiting the territory of modern America, reached three meters in height and weighed up to 400 kilograms. A fast predator with characteristic crests on the head, a fairly bright representative of that period, similar to tyrannosaurs. I hunted small dinosaurs, but in pairs or flocks, I could attack an animal that was much larger than its size. Great maneuverability and speed allowed the dilofosaurus to catch even a fairly fast and miniature scutellosaurus.

Marine life

The land is not the only place inhabited by dinosaurs, and the world of the Jurassic in the water was also diverse and multifaceted. A bright representative of that era was a plesiosaurus. This waterfowl of raptor possessed a length of neck and reached a length of up to 18 meters. The structure of the skeleton with a short but fairly wide tail and powerful fins resembling oars allowed this predator to develop a high speed and reign in the depths of the sea.

No less interesting marine dinosaur of the Jurassic period is the ichthyosaur, similar to the modern dolphin. Its peculiarity was that, unlike other pangolins, this predator gave birth to live cubs, and did not lay eggs. He reached the ichthyosaurus 15 meters in length and hunted for smaller prey.

Kings of the sky

By the end of the Jurassic period, small predators, pterodactyls, subdued the heavenly heights. The wing span of this animal reached one meter. The body of the predator was small and did not exceed half a meter, the weight of the adult specimen reached 2 kilograms. The predator could not take off, and before he set out on a flight, he needed to climb a rock or a ledge. He ate a pterodactyl with fish that he could see at a considerable distance. But he himself sometimes became a victim of predators, because on land he was slow and sluggish.

Another representative of flying dinosaurs was ramforinh. Slightly larger than the pterodactyl, this predator weighed three kilograms and had a wingspan of up to two meters. The habitat is Central Europe. A feature of this winged dinosaur was a long tail. Sharp teeth and powerful jaws allowed to catch slippery and wet prey, and the basis of the ration of the animal was fish, mollusks and, surprisingly, small pterodactyls.

Living world

The world in that era is striking in its diversity: far from the only population of the Earth at that time were dinosaurs. And the animals of the Jurassic period of other classes were quite common. After all, precisely because of good conditions, turtles appeared in the form that we now know. Frog frogs were produced, which became food for small dinosaurs.

Seas and oceans were swarming with a variety of fish species, such as sharks, rays and other cartilaginous and bony ones. Cephalopod mollusks, they are belemnites, formed the lowest link in the food chain, but their multi-member population maintained life in the water space. During this period, crustaceans appear, such as barnacles, leaf-legged and decapod crayfish, as well as freshwater sponges.

Intermediate

The Jurassic period is notable for the appearance of the ancestors of birds. Of course, Archeopteryx was not so much like a modern bird, it was, rather, a miniraptor with feathers. But the later ancestor, who is also a Longipteryx, already resembled a modern kingfisher. Although birds for that era are quite rare, but they are the ones that give rise to a new twist of the evolution of the animal world. Dinosaurs of the Jurassic period (the photo is presented above) have long been extinct, but even now, looking at the remains of such giants, you are awed tremendously before these giants.