Most kinds of dinosaurs are no longer on earth. But several kinds of creatures who lived among the dinosaurs are still with us.
Lizards were the favorite meal of many small flesh-eaters. Paleontologists think today’s lizards are almost exactly the same as the ones that lived during the Age of Reptiles.
The first turtles were also on earth with the dinosaurs. They looked a lot like turtles today—except some were much bigger. Paleontologists have discovered the fossil of one turtle that was over 12 feet long!
© Mark Conlin/Alamy
That’s a BIG turtle!
Crocodiles also lived during the time of dinosaurs. Most were about the same size as crocodiles today. But dinosaur hunters have found one crocodile skull fossil in Texas more than six feet long. That means the crocodile was probably five times as big as crocodiles today!
The Department of Library Services, American Museum of Natural History: Neg. No. 318651 Photo. Charles H. Coles
The creatures today that are real dinosaurs, though, are not lizards or turtles or crocodiles.
They are small creatures you see every day. They’re right outside your window or in your backyard.
Paleontologists think the first birds appeared on earth during the Jurassic Period. They were a form of flesh-eating dinosaur. The first clue came when a puzzling fossil was discovered.
In 1861, workers in Germany dug up the fossil of a small skeleton. The skeleton looked as if it belonged to a flesh-eating dinosaur. But when they looked closely at the stone around the fossilized bones, they saw imprints of wings and feathers!
Paleontologists named this creature Archaeopteryx (AHR-kee-OP-tur-icks). That means “ancient wing.” Today, the Archae-opteryx fossil is one of the most valuable fossils in all the world.
The Department of Library Services, American Museum of Natural History: Neg. No. 319836 Photo. Robert E. Logan
In recent years, scientists in China have found many more fossils of dinosaurs with wings and feathers. These discoveries have made the link between birds and dinosaurs even more obvious.
How did birds, crocodiles, turtles, and lizards stay alive when so many dinosaurs died out?
No one knows.
It’s another mystery the dinosaur hunters and paleontologists of the future will have to solve.
It’s possible the answer is out there right now …
buried in the mud somewhere …
waiting …
for you to dig it up.