Cretaceous Period

Cretaceous dinosaurs
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

The Cretaceous, the last and longest period of the dinosaur age, lasted from about 145.5 million to about 65.5 million years ago. During the Cretaceous, mammals were small, about rat size, and the land was ruled by dinosaurs, including the duck-bills (hadrosaurs), horned dinosaurs (Triceratops), long-neck sauropods (Dreadnoughtus) and the tyrannosaurs (Tyrannosaurus rex). When the 79-million-year-long period ended, largely because of a 6-mile-wide (10 kilometers) asteroid slamming into the Yucatan Peninsula, about 80 percent of all animal species went extinct, including the non-avian dinosaurs.

Latest about cretaceous period

Full-body specimens of Acipenser praeparatorum, a newly described species from the Hell Creek Formation in Wyoming.

'Hell fish' likely killed by dinosaur-ending asteroid is preserved in stunning detail

By Joanna Thompson published

Scientists recently unearthed stunning fossils of sturgeon from Hell's Creek that might have died on the day that the dinosaur-killing asteroid struck.

A Deinosuchus, an ancient crocodylian with banana-size teeth, lunges at an Albertosaurus dinosaur.

Cretaceous 'terror crocodile' crushed dinosaurs with banana-size teeth

By Mindy Weisberger last updated

New analysis of the ancient crocodylian Deinosuchus confirms that this apex predator had jaws and teeth that were powerful enough to subdue massive dinosaur prey.

A pair of sauropods share a tender moment, in the trailer of a new documentary series about life during the Cretaceous.

Cretaceous dinosaurs come to life in stunning footage from 'Prehistoric Planet'

By Ailsa Harvey, Mindy Weisberger last updated

'Prehistoric Planet,' a five-part documentary series, transports viewers into the mesmerizing world of the Cretaceous period.

Tyrannosaurus rex hunting its prey in a lush jungle environment. There are two Parasaurolophus in the background (they have long crests on their heads and walk on their hind legs).

Cretaceous period: Animals, plants and extinction event

By Michael Dhar published

The Cretaceous period lasted approximately 79 million years, and ended with a major extinction event about 66 million years ago.

The aptly named Thanatosdrakon "dragon of death" pterosaur was a flying reptile that lived alongside dinosaurs during the Cretaceous period.

Giant 'dragon of death' with 30-foot wingspan unearthed in Argentina

By Jennifer Nalewicki published

Scientists recently discovered fossils in Argentina that belong to Thanatosdrakon. The specimens are the largest pterosaurs ever found in South America.

An artistic reconstruction of the seiche wave surging into the Tanis river, bringing in fishes and everything in its path — including trees and dinosaurs — while impact spherules rained down from the sky.

'Frozen in place' fossils reveal dinosaur-killing asteroid struck in spring

By Mindy Weisberger published

Around 66 million years ago, springtime in the Northern Hemisphere brought disaster and mass death to Earth in the form of a giant asteroid impact that triggered a global extinction.

The fossilized Florigerminis jurassica plant with a defined stem, bulbous fruit and fossilized flower bud (marked by the white arrow).

164 million-year-old plant fossil is the oldest example of a flowering bud

By Harry Baker published

Researchers in China have uncovered the oldest example of a fossilized flower bud ever.

Following the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs, parts of the planet would have been plunged into darkness.

Darkness caused by dino-killing asteroid snuffed out life on Earth in 9 months

By Mindy Weisberger published

After an asteroid struck at the end of the Cretaceous period, debris from wildfires filled the atmosphere and blocked sunlight across Earth, causing ecosystem collapse and extinctions.

A new study has confirmed a longstanding theory that the Earth's crust was tilted on its side around 84 million years ago.

Earth tipped on its side (and back again) in 'cosmic yo-yo' 84 million years ago

By Harry Baker published

A new study has confirmed a longstanding theory that Earth's crust tilted to the side, and eventually back again, around 84 million years ago.

Mosasaurs in the Platecarpus genus, like the one pictured here, have blunter, broader heads than the newly described species, which has an elongated snout like a crocodile's.

An 18-foot-long sea monster ruled the ancient ocean that once covered Kansas

By Mindy Weisberger published

A newly described species of mosasaur, an extinct marine reptile, swam through Cretaceous seas 80 million years ago and had a slender snout like a crocodile's.

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