.:: MENU ::.
- Index
- The Dinosaur Era
- Did Dinosaurs Live In The Antarctic?
- The Giants Within The Dinosaur Age
- Ruling The Skies
- Within The Seas

The Early Cretaceous Earth was a habitat to the biggest animals known to ever fly in history. However, on the ground, life was making remarkable changes as well. There was a kind of dinosaur that was about to endure a very significant change.

The largest animals that were known to ever fly in the sky were called pterosaurs. Pterosaurs had wingspans of up to 12 meters. Pterosaurs were an unusual mixture between bird and bat. Their long beaks will remind us of birds. They had membranous wings similar to the wings of a bat.

There were two diverse types of Pterosaurs, the ones with tails and the others without tails. The tailed pterosaurs lived from the Late Jurassic period until the Late Jurassic period. During the Late Jurassic period the tailless Pterosaurs had replaced the tailed Pterosaurs. The second group which included Ornithocheirus grew to great sizes.

A time of remarkable modification of animal life on the land was during the early Cretaceous period. The Ornithopods, which was a new type of dinosaur, began appearing. They would later be among the most numerous on land.

Smaller types of these kinds of dinosaurs had in fact been around from the time of the Early Jurassic period. However, only now did they come into their own. Iguanodon was one of the earliest of the Ornithopods. There were several species in Europe, North America, and Asia.

The Ornithopods were more plentiful even though they were quite smaller than the Sauropods. They had the ability to hold their food in their cheeks while chewing it. Chewing broke their food down into smaller pieces which made their digestion time quicker. Sauropods didn’t ever chew their food. They required huge bodies so that their guts would be able to break down food over the period of several days. Although they did not have cheeks, they had the big reptilian smile that we currently see in modern-day lizards and crocodiles.

New types of Theropods also made an appearance in the Early Cretaceous period. These were the types of dinosaurs that are commonly known as ‘raptors.’ Examples of raptors would be the Utahraptor and Velociraptor. These Theropods were some of the most bird-like dinosaurs known to ever exist. They had a more bird-like pelvis and fairly long arms. Birds are descendents from Theropod dinosaurs like these. Over 100 characteristics in the skeleton link these groups together. Fossil evidence that came from the United States indicates that these types of dinosaurs may have hunted in packs.

The earliest bird that is identified would be the Archaeopteryx which comes from the Late Jurassic period in Germany. Fossils have been located in Spain and China. By the Late Cretaceous period they looked more current and diversified into different niches. Some wading or diving birds had lost their ability to fly once again.

Within the plant kingdom, great changes had occurred as well. Flowering plants made an appearance in the Late Jurassic period. The first flowers appeared in the Early Cretaceous period. Soon flowering plants and flowers would become the most common plants to exist on Earth.