Marvelous Mesozoic Time Machine

Carnivorous Cretaceous

Welcome back to the Marvelous Mesozoic Time Machine! Today we're going on a trip to the Cretaceous period 66-145 million years ago. The end of the dinosaur age.

We step into the bright afternoon sun, the climate is warmer than today due to high volcanic activity releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Global warming hit its peak about 90 million years ago. This warmer atmosphere caused more water to evaporate from the ocean, meaning more rainfall than today. In higher latitudes it often snowed as well.

Spanning 79 million years, the Cretaceous period is dominated by many of the best known dinosaurs. In this era we can find the disgustingly popular Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops, Velociraptors and many other amazing creatures that have been misrepresented by pop culture.

To give credit where it's due, Jurassic park was a cinematic masterpiece, however many of the dinosaurs featured were actually from the Cretaceous period.

The earth is covered in angiosperms (flowering plants) conifers, podocarps, massive ferns and other dense brush. Giant plant life is common.

Large yellow Ginko trees are scattered about the landscape. They are absolutely beautiful. Sequoiadendrons trees can be seen towering as high as 300 feet tall. The veiw is breathtaking.

Unfortunately for us, insects still exist here in the Cretaceous. Life simply wouldn't be able to survive without them. These included some of the same creepy crawlers we know today. Cockroaches, beetles, termites, grasshoppers, ants and flies flourished.

Mosquitoes fed off of fresh dinosaur blood. Unicorn ants utilized a unique prey catching horn. Bees pollinated all of the flowering plants. The giant dragonfly Meganeuropsis Permiana flew the skies, reaching a wingspan of 28 inches. I'd rather take my chances with a carnivore.

Rodents, cats, and primates are examples of mammals that inhabited the earth during the Cretaceous. However, mammals were a lot smaller back then and most only reached the size of a modern day rabbit. The largest mammal was Repenomamus Robustus, a badger like animal that reached only 8-13lbs.

Many amazing dinosaurs cover the world. The largest dinosaur was Patagotitan Mayorum, a sauropod dinosaur that reached up to 70 tons. There were many diverse theropods, sauropods and ceratopsians.

The dominant predator is Tyrannosaurus Rex which unlike popular depiction likely had a thin coat of feathers. The same goes for the infamous Velociraptor. In fact many dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes has feathers but that is a rant for another day.

Giant herbivores such as Diplodocus, Anklosaurus, and Iguanadon thrived on the abundant plant life. Ornithopods were the most successful group of Cretaceous herbivores. Although not as aggressive as carnivores, they are still very dangerous is threatened and often territorial.

Thank you for joining me on another trip through the marvelous Mesozoic, I hope to see you again soon!

Disclaimer:
The known facts on dinosaurs update all the time. We learn new things, old ideas get challenged, scientists will continue to debate and update our knowledge based on evidence. I try to keep up and keep my information as accurate as possible and I apologize if anything in here isn't 100% accurate. The fact is, it's hard to know anything for sure with a species that's been dead for millions of  years.