land-living, extinct reptiles

Upright - legs tucked under the body

Lived 65-230MYA (Mesozoic Era)

Land-living

Giant crocodiles and early relatives

Triassic - 251-200MYA

Jurassic - 200-146MYA

Cretaceous - 146-65MYA

Massive supercontinent

Allowed dinos to live all over the world

evidence of organic life in the rocks

extremely rare (<1% of organisms become fossils)

soft tissue fossils even more rare

- ex. -

body fossils (bones, shells, leaves)

traces (footprints, burrows, eggs)

life → death → preservation → survival → discovery

1 - die

2 - fall in the right place (sediment (usually in water))

3 - organic material is mineralized

4 - mineralized fossil must survive through time

5 - dug up