This richly illustrated book clothes the skeletons of dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles with flesh, and shows how these fascinating animals evolved and probably lived. Expert author John L. Cloudsley-Thompson synthesizes current views on ecology, physiology and behaviour, and outlines the various hypotheses that have been proposed to explain their extinction. Numerous beautiful drawings of the animals and their environment illustrate this exciting monograph.

Résumé

Our knowledge of extinct animals depends almost entirely upon the study of fossils. This richly illustrated book clothes the skeletons of dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles with flesh, and shows how these fascinating animals evolved and probably lived. Expert author John L. Cloudsley-Thompson provides an interesting synthesis of current views on their ecology, physiology and behaviour, and outlines the various hypotheses that have been proposed to explain their extinction. Numerous beautiful drawings of the animals and their environment illustrate this exciting monograph.

Contenu
Classification.- Diversification of Palaeozoic Reptiles.- The Mesozoic Environment.- Amphibious and Early Marine Mesozoic Reptiles.- Plesiosaurs and Ichthyosaurs.- Aerial Mesozoic Reptiles.- Terrestrial Mesozoic Reptiles: Size, Locomotion and Thermal Physiology.- Therapsids, Anapsids and Early Diapsids.- The Dinosaurs: Weapons, Display and Reproduction.- Herbivorous Dinosaurs.- Carnivorous Dinosaurs.- The Cretaceous Extinction.