Dinosaur Facts

    Dinosaurs / Periods / Triassic

    The Triassic period

    251.9 to 201.4 million years ago. 31 dinosaur genera in this collection.

    The six longest Triassic dinosaurs herewith a human for scale
    1 m = 50 px

    The world then

    All land joined in one supercontinent, Pangaea, with a vast ocean, Panthalassa, around it. Hot and dry across the interior, with strong seasons and monsoons. No polar ice caps. It began in the recovery from the end-Permian mass extinction, the worst in Earth's history. Low, rising through the period.

    Epochs

    • Early Triassic: 251.9 to 247.2 Ma
    • Middle Triassic: 247.2 to 237 Ma
    • Late Triassic: 237 to 201.4 Ma

    Key events

    • Recovery from the end-Permian extinction around 252 Ma
    • First dinosaurs appear around 245-233 Ma, small and two-legged
    • Earliest mammals and pterosaurs appear in the Late Triassic
    • End-Triassic extinction around 201 Ma clears the way for dinosaurs

    See the Triassic on the timeline or draw them all on the plate.

    All 31 genera