During the Triassic period, most of Earth was one supercontinent called Pangaea. The climate was generally hot and dry, with no ice at the Poles. At the end of the Triassic there was a mass extinction, the largest ever to occur.

A few dinosaurs of the Triassic Period

Coelophysis (say SEE-low-FY-sis)
The name refers to its hollow bones.

Coelophysis lived 220-200 million years ago during the late Triassic Period. It was about 1 to 3 metres long and weighing about 30 kg.

It had a long slender neck. Coelophysis had a double hinged lower jaw, so that it could cut prey with a sawing action if necessary. Its jaws had lots of small, sharp teeth indicating that it was a carnivore. It possibly even ate other Coelophsis. It was built for speed.

In 1947, hundreds of Coelophysis skeletons were discovered buried together in New Mexico. Paleontologists believe they probably died in a flash flood.  

Plateosaurus (say PLAT-ee-oh-SAW-rus)
It lived about 22 to 215 million years ago in the Late Triassic period. Its name means 'flat lizard'.

Plateosaurus belonged to a group of dinosaurs known as prosauropods which was related to the sauropods of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

Plateosaurus was a 9 metre long herbivore weighing about 4 tonnes. It was about 4 metres tall. It evolved in the Late Triassic period and lived up till the Early Jurassic period.

It was the first of the giant dinosaurs to feed only on plants and the first to be able to feed on vegetation in trees by evolving a long neck. It had long back legs and a long tail. Its mouth was like a beak but had teeth. It walked on four legs but probably stood on its back legs and grabbed branches with the claws on its front legs as it fed on leaves. Palaeontologists believe that they may have lived in herds.

Fossils have been found in Germany, France and Switzerland.

Riojasaurus (ree-OH-hah-SAW-russ) lived during the late Triassic. It is one of the biggest dinosaurs that lived in South America. It was bigger than other sauropods of the same time. Its long neck and tail were more like the later sauropods. It was over 10 and a half metres long and weighed almost 10,000 kg.

It’s a good idea to get information from more than one source! 

Read a list of the dinosaurs of the Triassic Period:

https://www.activewild.com/triassic-dinosaurs/

Read kidcyber pages:

• Dinosaur world: what prehistoric Earth was like

  1. Some dinosaurs of the Jurassic period

  2. dinosaurs of the Cretaceous period

  3. Dinosaur Discoveries - Fossils

  4. easy-to-read A-Z of dinosaurs