| The Cretaceous period began about 146 million years ago and ended 65 million years ago with the extinction of the dinosaurs. Flowering plants and modern insects appeared. Dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes walked the land, including duckbills, armored, horned, and dome-headed dinosaurs. There were new forms of giant meat-eaters, as well as a deadly new breed of hunter, the "raptor" dinosaur, known for its sharp teeth and curved claw on each hand and foot.
Flying pterosaurs ruled the sky. The Cretaceous was also punctuated and concluded by one of the greatest mass extinctions of all time. About half of all animal families did not make the transition to the Tertiary Period.
Dinosaurs of the Cretaceous period include:
Iguanadon, Psittacosurus, Hylaeosaurus, Utahraptor, Armargasaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, Ouranosaurus, Spinosaurus, Leaellynasaura, Minmi, Muttaburrasaurus, Acanthopholis, Baryonyx, Hypdilophodon, Deinychus antirrhopus, Microvenator, Sauropelta, Gigantosaurus, Gallimimus, Oviraptor, Proceratops, Saurolophus, Tyrannosaurus rex, Velociraptor, Thescelosaurus, Anatotitan, Albertosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Corythosaurus, Edmontosaurus, Euoplocephalus, Lambeosaurus, Maiasaura, Monoclonius, Montanoceraptor, Ornithomimus, Pachycephalosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Styracosaurus, Triceratops.
Triassic Period Jurassic Period Cretaceous Period
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