570 vanished lives

226Mesozoic

A short deep skull carried a rounded horn, while tooth marks on its own species provide rare scavenging evidence.

227Mesozoic

A huge nasal horn and long spikes radiating from the frill made one of the most dramatic ceratopsian heads.

228Mesozoic

Fifteen horn-like ornaments across the nose, brows and broad frill formed a folded crown around the skull.

229Mesozoic

Plates covered the front body while long paired spikes armed the hips and tail, concentrating defense behind it.

230Mesozoic

Nineteen elongated neck vertebrae placed nearly half the body's length in the neck, lightened internally by air spaces.

231Mesozoic

Simple filamentous feathers and tail color bands made it the first dinosaur restored with evidence-based coloration.

232Mesozoic

Orderly vaned feathers covered its arms and short tail, but symmetric feathers and body proportions prevented powered flight.

233Mesozoic

A toothless beak, clawed wings and—in some individuals—two long ribbon-like tail feathers appeared together.

234Mesozoic

Its wings shrank to small bones while rear-set legs turned it into a superb Mesozoic pursuit diver.

235Mesozoic

Its body and flight resembled a tern, but a row of true teeth remained inside the long jaws.

236Mesozoic

An enormous crest rose above a short toothless beak, with soft tissue extending the bony sail still farther.

237Mesozoic

Four long flippers flew through water while a long flexible neck carried the small head toward prey.

238Mesozoic

A solid snout projected beyond the teeth as this giant mosasaur hunted fish, turtles and other reptiles.

239Mesozoic

Front flippers spanned several meters, and a leathery covering stretched over a reduced bony shell.

240Mesozoic

Huge bony eye rings supported vision under pressure and may have helped track soft prey in dim water.

266Mesozoic

A whiskered snout, differentiated teeth and burrowing life approach the mammalian body plan.

267Mesozoic

A dog-like snout, slicing cheek teeth and upright hind limbs made it a major cynodont predator.

268Mesozoic

A deep skull, serrated teeth and powerful hind limbs placed it atop food webs before dinosaur dominance.

269Mesozoic

Two huge backward-curving shoulder spikes reinforced rows of protective armor.

270Mesozoic

Paired forward-curving brow horns occur only in some individuals, suggesting maturity or sexual display.

271Mesozoic

A nasal horn, brow ridges and small midline osteoderms made this predator unmistakable.

272Mesozoic

A huge skull and unusually powerful three-fingered arms marked one of the largest megalosaurids.

273Mesozoic

The first formally named non-avian dinosaur later became a wastebasket for unrelated theropod bones.

274Mesozoic

Tall neural spines supported a sail, ridge or fatty hump whose soft-tissue shape remains uncertain.