Dinosaurs are one of the most successful groups of animals to have roamed the planet. For over 170 million years they dominated the land, from small creatures just a few feet long to some of the largest animals ever to have walked Earth. But despite their long evolutionary history, the origin of dinosaurs remains shrouded in mystery.

Apr 18, 2018 · Like all living creatures, dinosaurs evolved from preexisting ancestors. Here's an overview of what we currently know about dinosaur evolution.

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles [note 1] of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is a subject of active research.

Jan 17, 2025 · Dinosaur - Evolution, Classification, Extinction: After dinosaurs were recognized as a new type of fossil animal, popular fascination with them reached a peak in the 1850s with the first attempts to reconstruct Iguanodon, Megalosaurus, and Hylaeosaurus.

Dinosaurs are a type of reptile, and they evolved from another group of reptiles called ‘dinosauromorphs’ around 250 million years ago. The dinosauromorphs were small and humble animals, and they didn’t look anything like T. rex or Brontosaurus.

Jul 17, 2020 · From gigantic sauropods trampling through Jurassic forest and lumbering tank-sized stegosaurs, to enormous pterosaurs that ruled the skies, these two ancient groups of animals contained some of the largest animals ever to evolve. But dinosaurs and pterosaurs didn't begin their evolutionary journeys at such huge sizes.

Jan 23, 2025 · Researchers are now proposing a surprising location for the birthplace of dinosaurs, based on the locations of the currently oldest-known dinosaur fossils, the evolutionary relationships among ...

Jul 6, 2021 · Dinosaurs were a successful group of animals that emerged between 240 million and 230 million years ago and came to rule the world until about 66 million years ago, when a giant asteroid...

Jan 24, 2025 · Dinosaur - Extinction, Fossils, Evolution: Dinosaurs lived in many kinds of terrestrial environments, and although some remains, such as footprints, indicate where dinosaurs actually lived, their bones tell us only where they died.

Jan 23, 2025 · A new dinosaur evolution timeline. The new theory begins near the equator in an arid region of equatorial Gondwana around 250 million years ago following the end-Permian mass extinction event that decimated much of life on Earth.. In the wake of this event, a group of reptiles known as the archosaurs began to evolve into a variety of different forms.