Discovering the old world

Have you ever wondered what the earth was like before humans? There is so little we know about this Earth we live on, eons gone by, and we have the slightest idea of what came before us. What we do know, is that which has come in our eon, since the uncovering of fossils, unearthing those who ruled before us humans.

Mesozoic Period

Since the discovery of these fossils, we have uncovered millions of years of history within them. Scientists have denoted this as the Mesozoic period, the life after cellular creatures, which has birthed the era's Triassic which denotes the beginning, Jurassic and Cretaceous ages. But the mystery still remains unclear… What were these creatures that lived in these times, and what exactly ended them? We may never know, but we can extrapolate these creatures from these fossils that we have found. Creatures from the Triassic age have inadequate amounts of data found, and thus will be excluded from the presentation.

Jurassic Era

From the data extracted from the fossils, the following creatures featured, will span between 200 million years ago to 150 million years ago, denoting this as the Jurassic era. This data will go over what we know, how these creatures appear and what they could have been. How these creatures changed from this time, we believe to have come from evolution.

Pterodactyl

The Pterodactyl, observed to be a flying creature, as shown by it’s overwhelmingly large wings, which make their body pale in comparison. We have concluded that this creature must have been flying all the time, as shown with its head, which is abnormally big, with such a small body, unless it crawled on all four. Scientists believe that the Pterodactyl has also been an ancestor of birds, due to their ability to fly, since reptiles cannot fly, but have only been observed to glide.

Apatosaurus

The Apatosaurus, one of the largest land creatures found yet. We have come to an honest conclusion of this creature, it features a body structure like Giraffes with a long neck, but with the Apatosaurus it must have been a flaw in evolution, with its abnormally long neck, there was no way that it could lift up it’s neck, especially with the size of its body. Thus it must have gone extinct quite fast, and for a good cause, since it seems absolutely useless.

Stegosaurus

This reptile, the Stegosaurus, was named by the bone-like plating on its back. From what we could find with the Stegosaurus, it was quite small, being only a couple meters wide. The plating on their back was far bigger than their head, and made up most of their height. From what we extrapolated, there was no sighting of this creature, beyond dating back 170 million years ago, which leads us to believe that this reptile was fairly useless, and was naturally selected and went extinct fast.

Plesiosaurus

The Plesiosaurus, is a creature that features a skeletal structure similar to marine life, as evident through the fins. Concluding that this creature was a marine animal, which leads us to believe that this creature was a distant marine ancestor. Legends say that this creature is still alive even today, with sightings proving this to be true, which isn’t impossible, considering that from the fossils of this creature, it was found throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous age.

Cretaceous Era

The Cretaceous era, truly a wonderful era, where the most unique creatures we have discovered have come from this age. However it harbours a mystery, from about 150 million years ago after the Jurassic era, to 70 millions ago, there have been no fossils that date past this. Truly eerie, that whole age of creatures, had come to an end, with no signs of what had possibly occurred. Perhaps a change in climate? Extraterrestrial attacks? Or maybe even a meteorite colliding with earth, we may never know...

Spinosaurus

The Spinosaurus, defined by the massive spine that it harbours. This creature, we have later found, is much larger than the Tyrannosaurus, however it does not possess the jaws of the strength that the Tyrannosaurus has, thus making it hard to understand if this creature was the apex predator. The spine of the Spinosaurus is unknown of its uses, perhaps a weapon? Or a feature that makes it look intimidating than it really is?

Velociraptor

The Velociraptor, perhaps the smallest reptile of this time period. We are unsure of how these species would survive, thus coming to hypothesise that like smaller animals in this current time period, they work in packs. From the fossils and the overall skeletal structure, the Velociraptor is built for agility, thus giving it its name. Truly a unique creature of its time.

Tyrannosaurus

The Tyrannosaurus, a gigantic reptile that was found, features an abnormally large jaw and teeth, which produces the most fearsome bites. We have concluded that this creature must have been an apex predator, being able to kill most of the other creatures that lived during this time. An interesting feature of the Tyrannosaurus is its arms, scientists are unsure what they are meant for, considering that they are extremely small, and cannot be used in grabbing prey. Perhaps it must have been an evolutionary flaw?

Triceratops

The Triceratops, defined by three horns on its skull. The horns must have been the main weapon of these species, and the frill it has, must be a defense mechanism that absorbs the shock from them using their horns. It is still unknown how these horns were used effectively, since the skeletal structure of the Triceratops illustrates that it cannot move fast, which leads us to believe that these horns and frill were more of a defense structure, and for intimidating predators.