Mesozoic Era
252-66 million years ago · Event
The era of 'middle life', bracketed by the two greatest catastrophes in the fossil record: the Great Dying at one end and the asteroid at the other. Its three periods — Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous — are the age of dinosaurs, with the mammals waiting in the wings for 186 million years.
On these timelines: The Age of Dinosaurs, Master
More from The Age of Dinosaurs
- Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction (66000000 BCE)
- Tyrannosaurus rex (68000000 BCE)
- Paleozoic Era (541000000 BCE)
- Jurassic Period (201000000 BCE)
- Cretaceous Period (145000000 BCE)
- Triassic Period (252000000 BCE)
- Archaeopteryx and the first birds (150000000 BCE)
- Permian Period (299000000 BCE)
Around 252000000 BCE
- Permian–Triassic extinction (252000000 BCE)
- First dinosaurs (230000000 BCE)
- First pterosaurs take flight (228000000 BCE)
- Therapsids, the proto-mammals (275000000 BCE)
- Archosaurs emerge (250000000 BCE)
- Lystrosaurus (252000000 BCE)