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Mesozoic era essay
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The Jurassic period was the second segment of the Mesozoic Era. It occurred from 199.6 to 145.5 millions years ago, following the Triassic Period and preceding the Cretaceous Period. During the Jurassic Period, the supercontinent Pangaea split apart. Laurentia, the northern half, made up what would eventually form North America and Eurasia. The creation of these opened basins for the central Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. The southern half, Gondwana, drifted into an eastern segment that now forms Antarctica, Madagascar, India, and Australia, and a western portion that forms the present Africa and South America. This rifting, along with generally warmer global temperatures, allowed for diversification and dominance of the reptiles known as dinosaurs. Along with dinosaurs, several different types of life and rock formations emerged during the Jurassic period.
This breaking up of the mega continent of Pangaea allowed for more diversification of plant species and as the continents continued to break apart, plant life became even more diversified. As the continents shifted and moved from one area of the ocean to another the climates began to change drastically which allowed for plant and dinosaur species both to begin adapting to suit their new ecosystems. All the water that was produced by the split of Pangaea gave the previously hot and dry climate a more humid and drippy subtropical weather. Dry deserts took on a greener look. Before the Mesozoic Era, livings things were confined to only surviving in the oceans. It was not until the Jurassic Period that livings things evolved the capability of living on the land rather than just the ocean. Towards the beginning of the Jurassic, plant life evolved from Bryophytes, the low-growin...
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...ll. This group still remained successful during the Jurassic period and had a wide geopraphic distribution. Other reptiles evolved to not only live on land, but to fly. The earliest known birds appeared during this period; Archaeoteryx being the first to be considered the intermediate between the birds and predatory dinosaurs. It is debated on whether this ancient bird could actually fly or merely glid from tree to tree. Carnosaurus, meaning “meat-eating” is another group of dinosaurs that ruled during the Jurassic. With such large herbivorous prey animals, the correlation of these large predators make sense of why they were so common. An Allosaurus was one of the most common Carnosaurs in North America. Upon finding numerous intact skeletons in fossil beds, it has been reported that the Allosaurus was superficially similar to the later evolving Tyrannosaurus rex.
Around 144 million years ago, began the emergence of the Ornithischian dinosaurs during the cretaceous period and diversified into North America and Asia.
Paul, Gregory S. (2002). "Looking for the True Bird Ancestor". Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 171–224. ISBN 0-8018-6763-0.
Dinosauria, We by Charles Bukowski, is about the downfall of humanity and how priorities changed to greed, violence, and survival of the fittest. It is about how we are “born into this,” how we are born into a society where it is cheaper to die or plead guilty rather than pay the hospital bill or to get a lawyer. Where we are “made violent” and our “heart is blackened.” Where the good things in life are hidden from view like the “masked sun.” “The sun will not be seen and it will always be night.” Where in the end, the good is still hidden and “the most beautiful silence” is never heard.
Most people know the basic concept of the Bechdel Test, if not by name. Having more than one developed female character whose arc does not rely on a male character is indeed a great thing to strive for in cinema. However, no matter how good it is in principle, there are flaws in the Bechdel Test itself; just because a movie passes does not give it a feminist thumbs up. Just the same, a movie that does not pass the test is by no means automatically a bad or misogynistic movie. Many say that 2015 was a good year in cinema. Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke plenty of records in the box office, and fans were immensely pleased with the female lead character not distracted by a petty romantic interest. Other recognized movies that came out
We use dinosaurs to represent the changes in nature that have occurred throughout time. Studies found that although the “oldest rock did not show evidence of life, the progression of plant and animal life that changed in recognizable intervals, from ancient life, age of reptiles to the age of mammals” (Dino Nature Metaphor, slide 6), measured the age of the earth. When we think of dinosaurs in relation to nature, we think of that very powerful force that controls the cycle of life. Nature was able to yield such magnificent ferocious creatures that walked the earth and then take them back when they served nature’s purpose. Dinosaurs fit perfectly in nature’s constant
...iod. The glacier formation led to the enormous decrease of the sea level which dried out the swamps. Swamps form because of the water level was high and flooded the forest so the low sea level really affected the huge swamps areas of the Carboniferous period. The climate changed from hot and humid to cool. The plants couldn’t adapt to this change so most of the ones that flourished during the time period died off but it led to new plants forming. Most of the amphibians that were prosperous during this time also couldn’t adapt to the environmental climate change so most died off. The insects also couldn’t live through the change. The reptiles however made it through the climate change. They were able to adapt unlike all the other species they lived with during the carboniferous period. These environment changes eventually led to a new time period, the Permian Period.
They ruled the world before the time of the dinosaurs, from the Cambrian Period to the
Throughout Earth’s history there have been many changes. These changes have consisted of temperature fluctuations, atmospheric differentiations, extinctions of various plant and animal life, etc. Over time everything seems to have evolved in some way form or fashion. However, the Permian Era extinction was different from all the rest. This extinction affected every form of life, but especially the marine life. Researchers have stated that 93-97% of all Earths species went extinct during this period of time. This essay will explain how a once blossoming progressive era turned into Earths most catastrophic event.
The Triceratops was living in the late Cretaceous Era. It lived about 68 to 65 million years ago. The Triceratops were said to live in the Wyoming, Colorado, and Canadian area, where they have cold winters. The Tyrannosaurs dominated all of their prey in North America at that time. Also giant penguin-like marine animals called Polycotylid Plesiosaurs appeared in the oceans towards the south. The Earth was still dominated by dinosaurs at that time. During the late Cretaceous Era, North America was slowly moving westwards, whic...
Evidence of this is the Archaeopteryx. The Archaeopteryx is the size of a crow, but has many characteristics of small dinosaurs including: a long bony tail, display teeth, hollow bones, belly ribs and claws. The bird characteristics include: feathers, light body build, and a wishbone. It is thought that this creature was the transition between the dinosaur species and the bird species due to the mix of both characteristics. Other pieces of evidence the birds are derived from dinosaurs, were acknowledged in the movie, Jurassic Park. This included: their intelligence, they both produce eggs, have similar skeletons, have similar feet structure, and they both travel in
The most significant event of the Cretaceous era came at its end. Nearly 65 million years ago, the second most severe mass extinction in earth’s history occurred. This resulted in the loss of around 80% of species living at the time. Though nowhere near as severe as the end-Permian mass extinction, the end-Cretaceous extinction is the most well known mass extinction event. This is due to the violent event that caused it the extinction, as well as the chapter of earth’s history that it closed: the Dinosaurs. The Cretaceous Event ( often shortened to K-T event) Of the animals that were killed off were the flying reptiles (pterosaurs) and the last few mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, both early marine reptiles. Many mollusks and species of microscopic plankton were killed. Terrestrial plants suffered mass extinction as well. Almost 60% of terrestrial plants were lost. This led to high extinction rates among insect populations, especially insects that were highly specialized to feed on just a few types of plants had it the worst. It took approximately 9 million years for the global insect populations to recover from the Cretaceous extinction. Immediately after the extinction, the earth saw an explosion of short term species who respond well to fire, or other external disturbance. Evidence of the catastrophe comes from a thin rock layer deposited worldwide just after the impact. It is dominated by fossil plants whose descendants recover quickly after fires of other disturbances, such as Fire Weed in Alaska. The causes of the Cretaceous extinction are still being debated by paleontologists. Scientists agree that the main cause of the extinction was a...
seems like it happened so sudden, as geologic time goes, that almost all the dinosaurs
Several mass extinctions have occurred during the Earth’s history. The Cretaceous – Tertiary Boundary (K-T) Extinction caused the loss of at least three-quarters of all species known at that time including the dinosaurs. The cause of this mass extinction is a controversial subject among scientists but the fossil evidence of it’s occurrence is abundant.
While working in Antarctica, two separate research teams with hundreds of miles between them each made astounding discoveries. They discovered dinosaur fossils. Antarctica has been home to many other dinosaur fossil finds but what was so special about these fossils is that they were from an unknown species of dinosaurs. Really what the discovery compliments is that the discovery of these fossils encourages the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift. Antarctica now is a baron frozen continent with little life. 170 million years ago it was a more habitable environment because was oriented at a different location on earth. The two new species of dinosaurs were that of a meat-eater and a plant-eater. The meat-eater was found on an ancient island the used to be covered by sea and the plant-eater was discovered on the slopes of a mountain that is 13,000 feet high but probably a riverbed at the time when this dinosaur roamed the earth. This discovery not only shows how continental drift and plate tectonics helped the dinosaurs move but also the discovery of two new species of dinosaur. These discoveries will help us further our knowledge of what happened to the dinosaurs.
Sixty-five million years ago, some phenomenon triggered mass extinctions on the lands and in the oceans so profound that they define the geological boundary between the older Mesozoic Era, often called the "Age of Reptiles," and the modern Cenozoic Era, the "Age of Mammals."