Cretaceous Animals, Dinosaurs & Extinction

236Mesozoic

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

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.

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.

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.

288Mesozoic

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

290Mesozoic

A reduced shell and giant front flippers made it one of the largest Cretaceous sea turtles.

313Mesozoic

Its adult shell stretched into a near-straight rod while retaining ammonite sutures.

314Mesozoic

A huge internal shell identifies a large coleoidean, though total length remains uncertain.

315Mesozoic

The juvenile shell coiled tightly before the adult chamber uncoiled and hooked back.

316Mesozoic

Barbed teeth armed a long rostrum used to sense and sweep through bottom prey.

317Mesozoic

Its huge upturned mouth could swallow fish nearly half its own length.

318Mesozoic

Oversized palatine fangs made a modest fish into a formidable midwater hunter.

322Mesozoic

Broad crushing teeth paved its mouth for ammonites and shellfish.

329Mesozoic

A long neck, dense teeth and paddle-like arms suggest a semiaquatic raptor.