Dinosaur Factfile is an exciting work of reference for children aged eight and above. Presented in an easy-to-use: chronological format, this definitive dinosaur encyclopedia is comprehensive, stylish and fun. Children will be drawn by its informative, clear narrative and stunning illustrations. Special features throughout the book focus on dinosaur characteristics, and on spectacular fossil finds that tell us about every aspect of prehistoric life.

This book is about a group of extraordinary animals - the dinosaurs. These reptiles dominated the natural world for more than 160 million years, and from the middle of the 19th century when the first fossil skeletons were excavated, they have captured the imagination of generations of people - children and adults alike. Through the patient work of palaeontologists and other scientists, we are finding out more and more about these remarkable creatures, the continents they roamed, what they ate, the way they lived.

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

Stegogaurs

Fossil-hunting in Africa

Weapons and ornaments

Nodosaurs and Ankylosaurs

Dome-headed dinosaurs

Dinosaur droppings

REPTILES 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