โ† Discover
Tour 7 ยท Nature

Dinosaurs

For 165 million years they ruled the Earth. Then they were gone โ€” almost. (Birds are still here.)

When did they live? โณ

If all of Earth's history were squashed into one school day, dinosaurs would have walked around for about 30 minutes. Humans would arrive in the very last 2 seconds.

252โ€“201
million years ago
Triassic
First dinosaurs appear โ€” small, fast, dog-sized. Most of Earth was one giant continent called Pangaea.
201โ€“145
million years ago
Jurassic
Giant long-necks like Brachiosaurus. Stegosaurus with the spiky back. The "classic" dinosaurs.
145โ€“66
million years ago
Cretaceous
T. Rex, Triceratops, Velociraptor. Flowers appear for the first time. Then โ€” boom.
66 million
years ago
The big asteroid ๐Ÿ’ฅ
A space rock the size of a city smashed into Mexico. Three quarters of all life on Earth died, including all the big dinosaurs.

Six famous ones ๐Ÿฆ–

๐Ÿฆ–
Tyrannosaurus rex
Cretaceous ยท meat-eater
12 metres long, teeth 20 cm. Tiny arms but a bite that could crush a car.
๐Ÿฆ•
Brachiosaurus
Jurassic ยท plant-eater
Tall as a 4-storey building. Spent the day eating leaves from the tops of trees.
๐Ÿ›ก๏ธ
Triceratops
Cretaceous ยท plant-eater
Three horns and a giant frill on its head. Probably fought off T. rex with the horns.
๐Ÿชถ
Velociraptor
Cretaceous ยท meat-eater
Real ones were the size of a turkey, with feathers โ€” not the giant scaly ones in the films.
๐ŸŒฟ
Stegosaurus
Jurassic ยท plant-eater
Plates on its back to soak up sun. Brain the size of a walnut, body the size of a bus.
๐Ÿฆ
Birds
Today ยท still here
Yes โ€” pigeons, sparrows, chickens. They're the descendants of small feathered dinosaurs that survived the asteroid.
The Big Idea

The dinosaurs aren't all gone ๐Ÿฆœ

Every time you see a sparrow on the pavement, a chicken at lunch, or a pigeon at the park โ€” you're looking at a tiny dinosaur. Birds are the only kind of dinosaur that lived through the asteroid.

So humans and dinosaurs have met. Just feathered, smaller versions.