Rahul WishardDINOSAURS first appeared during the Triassic period, 231.4 million years ago, and were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for 135 million years, from the beginning of the Jurassic (about 201 million years ago) until the end of the Cretaceous (66 million years ago), when a major extinction event led to the extinction of most dinosaur groups at the close of the Mesozoic Era.
It is widely believed that a bolide approximately 5 to 15 kilometres in diameter, crashed in the vicinity of the Yucatán Peninsula (in southeastern Mexico) approximately 66 million years ago, creating the approximately 180 km Chicxulub Crater and triggering the mass extinction of dinosaurs.
It is sometimes also speculated that the extinction of the dinosaurs was more gradual over time and might have resulted from the pollution of the environment and massive global warming as a result of the release of volcanic gases particularly Sulphur Dioxide, during the formation of the Deccan Traps in west-central India. The Deccan Traps formed between 60 and 68 million years ago. The bulk of the volcanic eruption occurred at the Western Ghats (near Mumbai) some 65 million years ago.
This series of eruptions may have lasted less than 30,000 years in total. The original area covered by the lava flows is estimated to have been as large as 1.5 million square kilometres, approximately half the size of modern India.
Nevertheless the Dinosaurs were the largest species to have roamed the Earth and their fossilised remains have been found all over the planet. The evolution and their eventual extinction of these magnificent creatures opens up a realm of mystery and awe and make one think how old, rich and diverse the history of our planet it.
Using fossil evidence, paleontologists have identified over 500 distinct genera and more than 1,000 different species of non-avian dinosaurs.
I recently visited the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences Museum. The Dinosaur Gallery here is the largest dinosaur exhibition in Europe, with more than 30 complete skeletons. The museum currently holds the 30 fossilized almost complete Iguanodon skeletons, which were discovered in 1878 in Bernissart in Belgium and the world’s largest collection of this kind.
The famous Iguanodon skeletons from Belgium
Dimetrodon from North America
Smaller fossils from Germany
Ammonites from 400 million years ago predating the earliest of Dinosaurs
Triceratops horridus skeleton
Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton
Fossilised Dinosaur egg
A Mammoth skeleton.
Mammoths lived from the Pliocene epoch (from around 5 million years ago) into the Holocene at about 4,500 years ago in Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America. They are regarded as the ancestors of modern Elephants.
