Volta
Naturec. 230 million years ago

The first dinosaurs

Also called: Eoraptor, Herrerasaurus

The earliest dinosaurs appeared in the Late Triassic, about 230 million years ago — Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus from Ischigualasto, Argentina, are the best known.

Skeleton of Eoraptor, one of the earliest dinosaurs (cast, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences)
Skeleton of Eoraptor, one of the earliest dinosaurs (cast, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences)

Eduard Solà Vázquez · CC BY 3.0 · Source

Among the reptiles that survived the great extinction arose a group that walked upright on their hind legs, and about 230 million years ago the dinosaurs appeared among them. Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus, from rocks about 231 million years old at Ischigualasto in Argentina, and Staurikosaurus from Brazil are among the earliest dinosaurs known. They were about the size of a dog and lived in the south of Pangaea (Gondwana).

When the eruptions and extinction at the end of the Triassic (about 201 million years ago), as Pangaea began to break apart, cleared away their rivals, the dinosaurs ruled the land through the Jurassic and Cretaceous for more than 160 million years. Today’s birds are one branch of the dinosaurs.

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The map in c. 231 million years ago

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Places
Ischigualasto (Valley of the Moon)

Before and after

Later
1978 1978 FIFA World Cup Argentina

Themes that include this event

  • Drifting Continentsc. 335 million years ago – 1912

    From the single landmass of Pangaea to the opening of the Atlantic and India’s collision with Asia that raised the Himalaya — with the great extinctions and the dinosaurs along the way, and Wegener, who first said the continents move