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
'Hell fish' likely killed by dinosaur-ending asteroid is preserved in stunning detail
Scientists recently unearthed stunning fossils of sturgeon from Hell's Creek that might have died on the day that the dinosaur-killing asteroid struck.
Cretaceous 'terror crocodile' crushed dinosaurs with banana-size teeth
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.
Cretaceous dinosaurs come to life in stunning footage from 'Prehistoric Planet'
'Prehistoric Planet,' a five-part documentary series, transports viewers into the mesmerizing world of the Cretaceous period.
Cretaceous period: Animals, plants and extinction event
The Cretaceous period lasted approximately 79 million years, and ended with a major extinction event about 66 million years ago.
Giant 'dragon of death' with 30-foot wingspan unearthed in Argentina
Scientists recently discovered fossils in Argentina that belong to Thanatosdrakon. The specimens are the largest pterosaurs ever found in South America.
'Frozen in place' fossils reveal dinosaur-killing asteroid struck in spring
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.
164 million-year-old plant fossil is the oldest example of a flowering bud
Researchers in China have uncovered the oldest example of a fossilized flower bud ever.
Darkness caused by dino-killing asteroid snuffed out life on Earth in 9 months
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.
