The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World: The Definitive Dinosaur Encyclopedia with Stunning Illustrations, Embark on a Prehistoric Quest!

by Steve Brusatte

oceans—a domain dinosaurs were never able to conquer. The warm waters of the Cretaceous, as during the Jurassic and Triassic beforehand, were the hunting grounds of various types of giant reptiles: plesiosaurs with long noodle-shaped necks, pliosaurs with enormous heads and paddlelike flippers, streamlined and finned creatures called ichthyosaurs that looked like reptilian versions of dolphins, and many others. They dined on each other and on fish and sharks (most of which were much smaller than today’s species), which in turn fed on tiny shelled plankton that choked the ocean currents. None of these reptiles were dinosaurs—even though they are often mistaken for dinosaurs in popular books and movies, they were merely distant reptilian cousins. For whatever reason—and we don’t yet know the answer—no dinosaurs were able to do what whales did: start on the land, change their bodies into swimming machines, and make a living in the water.