The story of prehistoric life as scientists have discovered it through the fossil record. Includes sections on life before dinosaurs, the age of dinosaurs, marine animals, mammals, and plants. Fully illustrated with timeline and glossary. Brings the extraordinary animals of prehistory to life, using the latest in digital technology. Take a journey through the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous worlds to discover giant predatory reptiles lurking in the seas, pterosaurs the size of small planes soaring through the skies, and colossal dinosaurs striding over the land. Meet the monstrous mammals that cam next, such as the saber-toothed Smilodon and the wooly mammoth. Computer-generated imagery reveals the scales, spikes, teeth, and talons of these curious creatures.

Includes index.

Timeline of life -- Changing planet -- Types of fossils -- Fossil finds -- Origin of life -- Game-changers -- Evolution and extinction -- The vertebrates -- What is a dinosaur? -- Inside a dinosaur -- Before the dinosaurs -- The age of dinosaurs -- Dinosaurs take flight -- Pterosaurs -- The marine world -- The rise of animals.