Did dinosaurs Eat redwoods?
Many of these plants had edible leaves, including evergreen conifers (pine trees, redwoods, and their relatives), ferns, mosses, horsetail rushes, cycads, gingkos, and in the latter part of the dinosaur age flowering (fruiting) plants.
Dinosaur species known to inhabit redwood environments include Stegosaurus and Compsognathus. Based on an older script of The Lost World, it is possible that the sauropod Mamenchisaurus could be found among redwoods. There is evidence of Tyrannosaurus rex activity near redwoods as well.
Almost as Old as the Dinosaurs
The earliest redwoods showed up on Earth shortly after the dinosaurs – before flowers, birds, spiders… and, of course, humans. Redwoods have been around for about 240 million years2, and in California for at least 20 million years, compared to about 200,000 years for “modern” humans3.
There is evidence that coast redwoods have existed as far back as 65 million years ago. This was the end of the Cretaceous period, the last time that dinosaurs, like Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, and Velociraptor roamed the earth.
When dinosaurs first became numerous in the late Triassic Period, nearly all of the major groups of vascular plants except the angiosperms were in existence. Conifers, cycadophytes, ginkgoes, ferns and large arborescent horsetails dominated the landscape.
The dinosaurs lived among and munched mostly on flowering evergreen trees, such as ferns, cycads, gingkoes, and beeches, all of which keep their foliage year-round. According to the fossil record, these sorts of trees and shrubs thrived during the time of the dinosaurs.
A new study out Thursday from paleontologists at the University of California, Berkeley estimates about 20,000 T. rexes were alive at one time, roaming a range that is now the West Coast of North America, from Southern Canada through the Rocky Mountains and California to New Mexico.
During the Late Campanian and Maastrichtian California was home to evolutionarily advanced mosasaurs including Plesiotylosaurus and Plotosaurus. On land, a variety of dinosaurs inhabited the state. Among them were the ankylosaur Aletopelta, and many duck-billed dinosaurs, most notably Augustynolophus,.
Tyrannosaurus rex probably lived in forests, where its prey (plant-eating dinosaurs) could find plenty of food. T. rex fossils have been found in western North America and Mongolia.
The General Sherman Tree is the largest in the world at 52,508 cubic feet (1,487 cubic meters). The General Grant Tree is the second largest at 46,608 cubic feet (1,320 cubic meters).
What trees survived the dinosaur extinction?
Cycads are highly respected in the botanic world as they survived the dinosaur extinction, five ice ages, and continuously adapted their size to compete with new, emerging forms of plant life. They have a similar, pleasing appearance to palm trees, but are in fact an entirely different species of their own.
General Sherman | |
---|---|
Height | 83.8 m (275 ft) |
Diameter | 11 m (36 ft) |
Volume of trunk | 1,487 m3 (52,500 cu ft) |
Date seeded | 700 BC – 300 BC |

Redwoods Aren't Endangered, but They do Have Needs | Humboldt NOW | Cal Poly Humboldt.
The researchers conclude that the log represents part of the trunk of a tree that may have been over 50 metres in height, making this Cretaceous giant, roughly the same height as Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London. Giant fossil log from the Late Cretaceous (Paraphyllanthoxylon).
These conifers have giant genomes, and full sequencing of them has only been possible in the last decade. The coast redwood has six sets of chromosomes (hexaploid) and 27 billion base pairs of DNA.
Plants and trees survived the mass extinction, one of the largest in the Earth's history. So, we know the effects on plants were less than those on dinosaurs.
Riparian Forests
The most famous riparian forest of the Mesozoic Era was in the Morrison Formation of late Jurassic North America—a rich fossil bed that has yielded numerous specimens of sauropods, ornithopods, and theropods, including the giant Diplodocus and the fierce Allosaurus.
Many of these plants had edible leaves, including evergreen conifers (pine trees, redwoods, and their relatives), ferns, mosses, horsetail rushes, cycads, ginkos, and in the latter part of the dinosaur age flowering (fruiting) plants.
Early human ancestors probably continued to sleep in trees until about two million years ago, Dr. Samson said. By 1.8 million years ago, new hominins like Homo erectus had left the trees. “I think we can be safe in saying Homo erectus slept on the ground,” Dr.
Plant life consisted mostly of ferns, conifers and small shrubs. Animals included sharks, bony fish, arthropods, amphibians, reptiles and synapsids. The first true mammals would not appear until the next geological period, the Triassic.
What did Earth look like before trees?
Long Before Trees Overtook the Land, Earth Was Covered by Giant Mushrooms. From around 420 to 350 million years ago, when land plants were still the relatively new kids on the evolutionary block and “the tallest trees stood just a few feet high,” giant spires of life poked from the Earth.
T. rex went extinct during the K-T mass extinction, about 65 million years ago. This extinction killed the remaining dinosaurs (not just T.
Dinosaurs in California
Very few dinosaur fossils have been found in California. Why? Becuase during the time when dinosaurs lived, most of California was covered by the ocean, and any sediments that accumulated in the areas that were dry land have since eroded away.
Before it was the vibrant city that people are familiar with, Los Angeles was underwater for over 90 million years. The multimedia, immersive exhibition, L.A. Underwater: The Prehistoric Sea Beneath Us, explores the underwater realm of prehistoric Los Angeles when much of the L.A.
- California- 1,473.
- Wyoming- 1,082.
- Montana- 909.
- Florida- 887.
- New Mexico- 882.
- Utah- 667.
- Colorado- 556.
- Texas- 447.