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Jurassic Period
The Jurassic period was the middle of the three periods into
which we divide the Mesozoic Era (the previous period being
the
Triassic period,
and the next period being the
Cretaceous period),
and occured between 213 million and 144 million years ago.
During the entire Jurassic period, dinosaurs were the dominant land animals,
and many of the more familiar types of dinosaurs appeared including
Allosaurus,
Apatosaurus,
Brachiosaurus,
Ceratosaurus,
Diplodocus,
Kentrosaurus and
Stegosaurus.
Additionally, the first birds
(which are widely believed to have evolved
from dinosaurs) appear during the Jurassic. The dominant plants during
the Jurassic period were
conifers, cycads, and ferns.
Here is a map of the world in the mid-Jurassic (about 200 million years
ago). Prior to this time, all the world's continents had been combined
into one super-continent known as Pangaea. During the Jurassic, Pangaea
began to break-up into two smaller super-continents:
Laurasia (combining North America, Europe, and Asia), and
Gondwanaland (combining South America, Africa, India,
Australia and Antarctica).
The sea between Africa and Asia was known as the Tethys Sea.
The Jurassic world was warmer than that of today, although perhaps not
quite as warm as it had been previously, during the
Triassic Period.
As in the Triassic,
there seems to have been
no glaciation or ice caps at the poles.
Jurassic Dinosaurs
Here are some of the types of dinosaurs
that lived during the Jurassic period:
Timeline:
Related Information & Resources
See Also
Books about the Jurassic Period
Here are some books from Amazon.com:
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