The Kingfisher Illustrated Dinosaur Encyclopedia is a dramatic trek back in time to the dawn of life on our planet. Every dinosaur is studied and spectacular illustrations bring them terrifyingly to life. Come face to face with these magnificent beasts as they crash through a Jurassic forest or soar high above a Cretaceous swamp. Learn how scientists use the latest technology to unlock the oldest secrets of this distant past. This comprehensive guide is indispensable for any dinosaur enthusiast and is guaranteed to captivate, absorb and inform adults and children alike.

Dinosaurs have always captured the imagination like no other animals on Earth, and The Kingfisher Illustrated Dinosaur Encyclopedia vividly recreates their prehistoric lives. Arranged chronologically, with special features on dinosaur habits and habitats, the encyclopedia is packed with essential information about how we can interpret fossil finds to tell us about every aspect of the prehistoric world. Illustrated with hundreds of outstanding art-works and photographs, this is undoubtedly the most authoritative, up-to-date and visually stunning guide to the world of these extraordinary creatures.

Foreword

LIFE IN THE DISTANT PAST

The beginning of life

Earth’s first animals

How animals evolve

Evidence from the past

How fossils form

Studying fossils

Continents on the move

Setbacks and disasters

Dividing up time

THE AGE OF ANCIENT LIFE,

The Cambrian Period

Cambrian animals

The Burgess Shale

The Ordovician Period

Ordovician animals

The Silurian Period

Silurian animals

The Devonian period

Devonian animals

The Carboniferous period.

Carboniferous animals

The Permian period

Permian animals

End of an era

THE AGE OF REPTILES

The Triassic Period

Triassic animals

Early dinosaurs

The Jurassic Period

The Cretaceous Period

Dinosaur groups

PLANT-EATING GIANTS

Cetiosaurs

Brachiosaurs and Camarasaurs

Feeding on plants

Diplodocids

A question of size

Fossil-hunting in South America

Titanosaurs

ORNITHOPODS

Life in a group

Hypsilophodonts

Fabrosaurs and Heterodontosaurs

Iguanodonts

Colours and camouflage

Hadrosaurs

Fossil-hunting in Asia

Sounds

THE MEAT-EATERS 

Ceratosaurs

Moving on two legs

Studying dinosaur tracks

Bird mimics

Dromaeosaurs

Troodonts

Dinosaur brains

Eggs and parental care

The origin of birds

Early birds

GIANT MEAT-EATERS

Carnosaurs

Megalosaurs and Segnosaurs

Allosaurs

Tyrannosaurs

Fossil-hunting in North America

Were dinosaurs warm-blooded?

ARMOURED DINOSAURS

Dinosaur defences

Ceratopsids

Stegosaurs

Fossil-hunting in Africa

Weapons and ornaments

Nodosaurs and Ankylosaurs

Dome-headed dinosaurs

Dinosaur droppings

RPT1LES IN THE AIR

Wings of skin

Long-tailed pterosaurs

Pterodactyls

How pterosaurs fed

How pterosaurs bred

REPTILES IN THE SEA

Adapting to life in water

Nothosaurs

Plesiosaurs

Pliosaurs

Ichthyosaurs

Swimming styles

Fossil-hunting in Europe

Mosasaurs

Shelled reptiles

THE AGE OF MAMMALS

The end of the dinosaurs

Early Tertiary

Late Tertiary

Quaternary

Human evolution

Glossary

Index and websites