Rise and fall of the dinosaurs

New blood

When dinosaurs first appeared the world was very different. There were no mammals, no birds and no lizards. But there were some lizard-like reptiles.

Time of the titans

In the Early Jurassic, dinosaurs started getting larger. Diplodocus was over 30 metres long - but even he wasn't safe from predators.

A cruel sea

While dinosaurs dominated the land, huge marine reptiles ruled the water. Ichthyosaurs looked very like dolphins - but they weren't the top predators of the Jurassic seas.

Giant of the skies

The largest animals ever to fly were pterosaurs. But during their reign, birds as we know them were also beginning to appear.

Spirits of the ice forest

There's considerable evidence that dinosaurs once lived at polar latitudes. How did they survive the cold?

Land of the giants

Argentinosaurus was the largest dinosaur ever - 35 metres long, and up to a hundred tonnes in weight.

The giant claw

75 million years ago the Mongolian desert was home to dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes - including one with the largest claw of all time.

Death of a dynasty

Why the dinosaurs died out is one of the most frequently asked questions of dinosaur experts. Will we ever know the answer?