570 vanished lives

265Paleozoic

A domed, massively thick skull crowned the barrel body of this giant herbivore.

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.

275Mesozoic

A solid spike-like crest projected behind the skull and probably carried a strong visual signal.

276Mesozoic

A helmet-shaped hollow crest contained looping nasal passages that could shape resonant calls.

277Mesozoic

Its hatchet-shaped hollow crest changed dramatically as the animal matured.

278Mesozoic

A massive nasal boss replaced the long horn seen in many ceratopsians.

279Mesozoic

Long shoulder spikes and dense armor protected one of the largest nodosaurids.

280Mesozoic

Small bony plates embedded in the skin showed that some titanosaurs carried armor.

281Mesozoic

Two distinct tooth shapes gave this early pterosaur its name.

282Mesozoic

A toothed beak with matching crests helped seize slippery fish near the water surface.

283Mesozoic

An enormous branching crest crowned some adults, but there is no fossil evidence for a sail between its prongs.

284Mesozoic

A vast sail-like skull crest dominated the profile of this large toothless pterosaur.

285Mesozoic

More than a thousand bristle-like lower teeth formed a filter basket.

286Mesozoic

Flippers, a downturned tail fin and reduced armor transformed a crocodile relative into a pelagic swimmer.

287Mesozoic

A skull nearly two meters long and huge teeth formed an apex-predator bite apparatus.

288Mesozoic

More than sixty neck vertebrae formed an exceptionally long neck, while gastroliths filled the abdomen.