Jurassic Period (Important Facts) {Part-8}

THE JURASSIC PERIOD, the middle part of the Mesozoic era, lasted from 199 to 145 million years ago. During Jurassic times, the land-mass of Pangaea broke up into the continents of Gondwana and Laurasia, and sea-levels rose, flooding areas of lower land.

Jurassic Period

The Jurassic Period climate was warm and moist. Plants such as ginkgos, horsetails and conifers thrived, and giant redwood trees appeared, as did the first flowering plants.
The abundance of plant food coincided with the proliferation of herbivorous (plant-eating) dinosaurs, such as the Large Sauropods (e.g., Diplodocus) and Stegosaurs (e.g., Stegosaurus).

Examples of Jurassic Plant Groups:-

A present-day Fern
(Dicksonia antarctica)

A present-day Horsetail
(Equisetum arvense)

A present-day Conifer
(Taxus baccata)

Carnivorous (flesh-eating) dinosaurs, such as Compsognathus and Allosaurus, also flourished by hunting the many animals that existed - among them other dinosaurs.

Further Jurassic animals included shrew-like mammals, and pterosaurs (flying reptiles), as well as plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs (both marine reptiles).

Examples of Jurassic Dinosaurs:-

Diplodocus
Length: 88 ft

Camptosaurus
Length: 16-23 ft

Dryosaurus
Length: 10-13 ft

Allosaurus
Length: 36 ft

Scelidosaurus
Length: 13 ft

Stegosaurus
Length: 30 ft