| Dinosaurs
are the most famous of all the prehistoric
organisms. The dragonish bodies of the
enormous carnivores have frightened us through
television and film as much as they must have
frightened our tiny hairy ancestors hundreds of
millions of years ago. Yet they are no less
fascinating than the towering sauropods or
scampering compsognathus. The
expert knows that dinosaurs are, although fascinating, not
especially
important to our general understanding of life on earth. There is a lot left
to find out about them, but the same could be
said of almost any group of animals at any point
in prehistory. However, they are extraordinarily
important to the public image of palaeontology,
to the way that this wonderful science is
presented to us and captures our imagination.
Their exciting, majestic, alien forms have become
symbolic of the world before mankind.
It
is little wonder that so many people are
enthusiastic about dinosaurs. Explore our pages
to find out about them.
I. Click here to read about
the classification of dinosaurs
II. Click here to read about
the 65 mya extinction
III. Click here to read about
the evolution of birds from dinosaurs
IV.
Click here for
dinosaur links (external site)
V.
Click here for a dinosaur quiz
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