AMMONITES - extinct coiled shellfish, relatives of the Octopus and Squid, that were common in the Mesozoic Era
AMPHIBIAN - a creature that can live on land but breeds in water
ANATOMY - the structure of an animal
ANGIOSPERMS - flowering plants
ANKYLOSAURS - armoured dinosaurs of the Ornithischia group
ARCHOSAURS - a major reptile group, which includes the extinct dinosaurs, pterosaurs and thecodontians, and the living crocodiles and birds
BIPEDAL - walking on two legs
CARAPACE - hardened shell or exterior covering
CARNIVORE - meat-eater
CERATOPSIANS - four-legged ornithischian dinosaurs with neck frills and horns.
CLADOGRAM - a family tree diagram
COELUROSAURS - small, slenderly built dinosaurs of the theropod group
CONIFERS - trees which bear cones, such as firs and pines
COPROLITE - fossilised dinosaur dung
CRETACEOUS - the third and last period of the Mesozoic Era, from 145 to 65 million years ago
CYCADS - short-trunked, palm-like plants, which were common in the Mesozoic Era
DROMAEOSAURS - small bipedal carnivores with switchblade claws on their feet
DINOSAURS - land-dwelling reptiles with upright stance that lived during the Mesozoic Era
DIURNAL - active during the day
ECOLOGY - the study of the relationship between living things and their environment
ECTOTHERMIC - "cold-blooded", heating the body from an outside source
ENDOTHERMIC - "warm-blooded", heating the body internally
ERA - a geological time unit
EUORNITHOPODA - pertaining to the development of a jaw hinged below the level of the tooth row in certain ornithischians
EVOLUTION - The process of change in the characteristics of living things over many successive generations, brought about by natural selection
EXTINCTION - dying out of a species
FOSSIL - remains of once living organisms that are preserved usually by burial and chemical change
GASTRALIA - floating ribs on the outside of the abdomen
GASTRIC MILL - the area of the stomach which contains grinding stones
GASTROLITHS - stones in the stomach, used for grinding up food
GENASAURIA - pertaining to the development of cheeks in certain ornithischians
GINKGO - a modern day east Asian tree descended from ancient gymnosperms
GIZZARD - see gastric mill
GONDWANA - supercontinent in the southern hemisphere during Triassic times, which included Africa, Antarctica, India, Australia, Madagascar and South America
GYMNOSPERMS - non-flowering plants
HADROSAURS - duck-billed ornithopod dinosaurs with multiple rows of grinding teeth
HERBIVORE - plant-eater
ICHTHYOSAURS - marine reptiles with a streamlined, dolphin-like appearance that lived in the seas during the Mesozoic Era
JURASSIC - the middle period in the Mesozoic Era, from 213 to 145 million years ago
LAURASIA - supercontinent that existed in the northern hemisphere during Triassic times, and which incorporated North America, Asia and Europe
LIGAMENTS - bundles of tough, fibrous tissue which link the bones of a creature together, providing support
MAMMALS - backboned, warm-blooded creatures that have hair and feed their young on milk
MAMMAL LIKE REPTILES - a group of reptiles which existed during the Triassic and earlier times, from which mammals evolved
MANIRAPTORA - pertaining to the development of a specialised curved bone in the wrist of certain saurischians
MARGINOCEPHALIA - pertaining to the development of a toughened ridge at the rear of the skull in certain ornithischians
MESOZOIC - meaning "middle life", the era from 245 to 65 million years ago, also known as the "age of the dinosaurs"
NATURAL SELECTION - the theory that the creature most suited to its environment will survive above any others
NOCTURNAL - active during the night
OMNIVORE - a creature which eats both plants and animals
ORNITHISCHIANS - dinosaurs with a hip structure similar to modern birds, all exclusively plant-eaters
ORNITHOPODS - bipedal ornithischian dinosaurs with teeth that specialised in grinding up tough vegetation
PACHYCEPHALOSAURS - ornithischian bipedal dinosaurs with thickened dome-headed skulls
PALAEONTOLOGIST - a person who studies fossils
PALAEOZOIC - "early life", the era before the one of the dinosaurs, existing some 600 to 225 million years ago
PANGAEA - the single land mass formed by the collision of all the continents, long before the first dinosaurs existed
PLESIOSAURS - fish-eating marine reptiles with four flippers that lived during the Mesozoic Era
PREDATOR - a hunter
PREY - a hunted creature
PROSAUROPODS - one of the earliest groups of dinosaurs, these long-necked plant-eaters died out in the early Jurassic
PTEROSAURS - flying reptiles that lived in the Mesozoic Era and were closely related to the dinosaurs
QUADRUPEDAL - walking on four legs
REPTILE - backboned animal with scaly skin and lays eggs, and which is ectothermic
SAURISCHIANS - dinosaurs with a hip structure that is similar to modern reptiles
SAUROPODOMORPHIA - pertaining to the development of long necks and small skulls in certain saurischians
SAUROPODS - large four-footed saurischian plant-eaters, with long necks and tails
SCAVENGER - a meat-eater that feeds on dead animals, sometimes stealing the kills of a hunter
SCUTES - tough bony platelets on the surface of the skin, found mostly in reptiles
SERRATED - with a jagged edge, similar to that of a saw
SPECIES - a group of similar animals which can successfully breed together, something which is impossible to prove with dinosaurs
SPINE - backbone (see vertebra)
STEGOSAURS - plant-eating dinosaurs with large bony plates or spikes running down their backs and with two pairs of tail spikes
TALONS - sharp claws
TETANURAE - pertaining to the development of a three-fingered hand in certain saurischians
TENDON - tough tissue that joins muscles to bones
THECODONTIANS - early archosaurs from which crocodiles, pterosaurs and dinosaurs evolved during the Triassic Period
THEROPODS - a group of saurischians, which were all bipedal, and meat-eaters
THYREOPHORA - pertaining to the development of scutes on the backs of certain ornithischians
TRACKWAY - a set of footprints left in soft mud or earth by a dinosaur, which has since fossilised
TRIASSIC - the first period of the Mesozoic Era, from 248 to 213 million years ago
VERTEBRA - a single bone, a chain of which forms a flexible spine