Chapter 11: The Cretaceous
readx;? The dinosaurs on the continent began to enter their heyday, which manifested itself in two aspects:
The sauropod dinosaurs of the herbivorous dinosaurs have grown to weigh up to more than 100 tons, and their plant intake has reached the limit of their land sustenance. As part of the balance of nature www.biquge.info the number and variety of theropod dinosaurs, which were carnivorous dinosaurs, began to flourish.
The number of carnivorous dinosaurs grew rapidly during the Late Jurassic period. This was the time when the world's hegemons, Allosaurus, emerged, which fed on herbivorous dinosaurs, and other animals would also become their recipes.
After tens of millions of years of development, the number of "dragon's mouths" has increased greatly, especially the number of carnivorous dinosaurs has increased even more rapidly. Because of the limited growth in the population of herbivorous dinosaurs and other creatures, carnivorous dinosaurs also began to kill each other.
Ichthyosaurs reached their peak in the early Jurassic. Plesiosaurs began to flourish in the middle of the Jurassic period and gradually replaced ichthyosaurs as the supremacy of the oceans. It shows that there was also a biological war for supremacy in the marine ecosystem at that time.
As a result of this war, the ichthyosaur gradually weakened, and by the end of the Jurassic period, it had largely declined.
The plesiosaur temporarily took the lead and became the overlord of the seas.
Angiosperms appeared in the middle of the White Period (about 146 million years ago - 66 million years ago), but gymnosperms still dominated. Angiosperms developed rapidly in the late White Period, gradually replacing gymnosperms and becoming dominant. In addition, the increase in the number of flowering plant species has led to an increase in the number of nectar-dependent insect species (such as lepidopteran insects) and predatory insects (such as praying mantises).
Invertebrates are mainly ammonites, bivalves, hexapetal corals, foraminifera, gastropods, mesomorphs, and leaf limb mesophytes.
Fish have become completely dominated by bony fishes.
In mammals, marsupials and primitive eumammals with placenta appeared. As the earliest primate, the protomonkey suborder appeared at the end of the White Period, and its body size was very small, and it was classified as a superfamily of monkeys. Now extinct.
The Confucius bird of the Paleomycedae subclass appeared in the early Bai period, later than Archaeopteryx, but much more advanced than Archaeopteryx, already having a beak and much stronger flight ability than Archaeopteryx. More progressive are the Chaoyang bird and the Liaoning bird, which are considered to be the direct ancestors of the present bird.
In the brutal competition, the number of dinosaurs in the White Period was greatly reduced compared to the Jurassic period, and even the early overlord Allosaurus became a victim. They were eliminated in the early Cretain.
Spinosaurus is the largest carnivorous dinosaur and theropod dinosaur, which lived in Africa during the White Age, about 10,000 years ago to 92 million years ago, and is the heaviest known theropod dinosaur and the largest land carnivore, with a maximum of 19 meters and 18 tons. Spinosaurus had a maximum impact bite force of more than 5 tons and a palm force of 3,000 kilograms. Its arms and palms are the most powerful in biological history, and it can easily pick up an adult rhinoceros.
Tyrannosaurus rex, also known as Tyrannosaurus rex, is one of the largest carnivorous animals in history and the most famous carnivorous dinosaur, it is the latest surviving species of dinosaurs, with an average body length of 11.5 meters, a maximum length of 14.6 meters, an average weight of 7.7 tons, and a maximum weight of 14.85 tons. The bite force is the first in land life and carnivorous dinosaurs, and it is also the largest carnivorous dinosaur. It lived at the end of the White Age, which lasted from about 68.5 million to 65.5 million years ago, and was the strongest known carnivore in terrestrial history.
Under the oppression of carnivorous dinosaurs represented by tyrannosaurs, life on the continent has withered, and even the number of herbivorous dinosaurs has dropped to the point of threatening the reproductive ability of the population, not to mention other terrestrial creatures such as mammals. In general, animals larger than 10 cm in length cannot escape their clutches, so that only animals the size of mice can survive. Of course, those who can fly are much happier, so at that time, pterosaurs had developed the largest flying creatures that had ever appeared on the earth in this situation without natural enemies, such as the Aeolian Pterodactyl and the Hatezgo Pterodactyl, with a wingspan of more than 12 meters, teeth 10 centimeters long, a huge pointed beak, and a bite that could swallow the Mamenxi dragon, and the pterosaur was more than 13 meters tall.
Carnivorous dinosaurs included not only those behemoths, but also many very small carnivorous dinosaurs. They are more efficient killing machines, like wolves.
Unfortunately, they do not know how to breed and only live by hunting. Just imagine, if human beings did not have the technology of breeding and cultivation, and did not have the technology to continuously increase the yield per unit of land, it is estimated that we human beings would have become extinct long ago. At that time, Bai Ji was facing a situation of complete collapse of the ecosystem.
This is the case on land, and the situation in the ocean is not optimistic.
Ichthyosaurs disappeared about 90 million years ago, and ichthyosaurs existed for a total of 160 million years.
The plesiosaur continued to maintain its leading position in the White Age, becoming the overlord of the sea.
At the end of the White Period, a new overlord arose in the ocean, the Cangsauridae.
Canglongaceae is a marine reptile in the late White Period, with a large species body length of 15 meters, and its internal structure and physiological characteristics are still reptile.
They used their lungs to breathe and had to swim to the surface at regular intervals to breathe, just like today's aquatic mammal whales. They reproduce in the same way as plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs.
The limbs of the family Cangosauridae turned into paddle-like flippers, the head was large, the nostrils retreated to the top of the head, and it had a long, pointed mouth full of sharp teeth, an extremely short neck, and a slender body. They stand out for their long, paddle-like tail that takes about half of their body length, making them powerful thrusters for fast swimming.
Neptunesaurus and Nepnosaurus both belonged to the family Sauridae, which lived in the oceans of the late White Period, feeding on fish or mollusks, and once they found their prey, they chased after them until they bit them. Due to their extremely fast swimming speed, even carnivorous fish that are very good swimmers cannot escape the fate of predation.
Neptunesaurus lived in the oceans of the late White Period and was one of the deadliest hunters of the ancient oceans, hunting almost all animals smaller than it. Seal the path of prey with its strong jaw, which is flanked by two rows of sharp, tapered teeth. Neptune used its long snout to locate its prey, and once it entered its menacing jaws, it swallowed it whole. When you open your mouth to devour your prey, the two rows of teeth in your mouth give the prey nowhere to escape. Like all dragons, Neptune's long, powerful, vertically flattened tail propelled it through the water, allowing it to lurk for its prey. Short pulp-like limbs help control direction, and the elongated body is covered with lizard-like scales.
The next chapter will introduce the extinction event of the White Age, which has been of great interest to countless scientists since then.