The Dinosaurs of Dinosaur Park

The Dinosaurs of Dinosaur Park. . , Dinosaurs ruled the Earth during the Mesozoic Era, 252 to 66 million years ago. As a group, dinosaurs are some of the most successful dinosaurs the earth has ever known, thriving on every continent and in every conceivable habitat. Although most dinosaurs are now extinct, one kind, birds, is still with us today., During the Mesozoiic, many kinds of dinosaurs came and went. Dinosaur Park presreves one particular dinosaur ecosystem that existed in Maryland 110 million years ago. However, these dinosaurs did not live alone. They shared their world with a variety of other animals, including crocodiles, insects, and fish. Our own distant ancestors, small, shrew-like animals, also lived in the shadow of the dinosaurs., Cretaceous Roll Call , Astrodon johnstoni , Astrodon was a member o the group of long necked dinosaurs called sauropods. A plant-eater, Astrodon ws related to the better known Brachiosaurus, which lived about 40 million years earlier. Although an adult Astrodon may have exceeded 60 feet in length, most fossils found at Dinosaur Park come from juveniles., Giant Theropod , A small number of teeth and bones from a giant meat-eating dinosaur have been found at Dinosaur Park. This predator was probably a relative of Acrocanthosaurus, a dinosaur known from Texas and Oklahoma. The 35 foot-long Acrocanthosaurus probably hunted sauropod dinosaurs, such as Astrodon., Dromacosaurs , Dromacosaurs (commonly called "raptors") were a group of meat-eating dinosaurs with large, hooked claws on each foot. They were swift and agile hunters, using a long-stiffened tail as a counterbalance when running. Dromacosaur fossils from China have been found with feathers, and their Maryland relatives were certainly feathered as well., Ornithomimus affinis , Ornithomimids were a type of theropod dinosaur, but unlike most of their flesh-eating relatives, they had small heads and narrow toothles snouts. Ornithomimids strongly resemble modern ostriches, and they probably lived much the same way, feeding on seeds, fruits, and possibly insects or other small animals., Arundelconodon bottoni , Arundelconodon is one of the only Mesozoic mammals known from the eastern United States. During the Cretaceous, most mammals were small , no bigger than mice or shrews. They are rare in the fossil record becasue their tiny, fragile bones are difficult to find. Arundelconodon was probably nocturnal, hunting insects and possibly small vertebrates., Priconodon crassus , Priconodon was a low-built, heavily armored plant-eating dinosaur belonging to a group called nodosaurs. Nodosaurs had bony armor and spikes on their back, legs, and tail, but they did not have clubbed tails like related Ankylosaurus. Priconodon and its kin apparently preferred watery habitats, like hippos today. , [Timeline:] ,

250 million years ago - 200 million years ago: First dinosaurs , 145 million years ago - 66 million years ago: Dinosaur Park fossils , 66 million years ago: Extinction of Dinosaurs (Except birds) , [1 million years ago] - Present day: First humans