Our Knowledge Of Extinct Animals Depends Almost Entirely Upon The Study Of Fossils. This Illustrated Book Clothes The Skeletons Of Dinosaurs And Other Mesozoic Reptiles With Flesh, And Shows How These Fascinating Animals Evolved And Probably Lived. Expert Author John L. Cloudsley - Thompson Provides An Interesting Synthesis Of Current Views On Their Ecology, Physiology And Behaviour, And Outlines The Various Hypotheses That Have Been Proposed To Explain Their Extinction.--jacket. 1. Classification -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Amphibians -- 1.3 Reptiles -- 1.4 Note On Colouration -- 2. Diversification Of Palaeozoic Reptiles -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Continental Drift -- 2.3 Reptilian Ancestors -- 2.4 Anapsid Reptiles -- 2.5 Synapsid Reptiles -- 3. The Mesozoic Environment -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 The Triassic Period -- 3.3 The Jurassic And Cretaceous Periods -- 4. Amphibious Mesozoic Reptiles -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Locomotion -- 4.3 Testudines -- 4.4 Placodonts And Nothosaurs -- 4.5 Thalattosaurs, Mosasaurs And Other Sea Lizards -- 4.6 Champsosaurs, Phytosaurs And Crocodilians -- 5. Plesiosaurs And Ichthyosaurs -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Swimming -- 5.3 Plesiosaurs -- 5.4 Ichthyosaurs -- 6. Aerial Mesozoic Reptiles -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Gliding Reptiles -- 6.3 Pterosaur Flight -- 6.4 Locomotion On The Ground -- 6.5 Rhamphorynchoids -- 6.6 Pterodactyloids -- 6.7 Life Styles -- 6.8 Extinction -- 6.9 Summary -- 7. Terrestrial Mesozoic Reptiles -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Quadrupedal Locomotion -- 7.3 Bipedal Locomotion -- 7.4 Weight And Size Limits -- 7.5 Physiology -- 7.6 Tachymetabolism -- 7.7 Brachymetabolic Thermoregulation -- 7.8 Hair And Feathers -- 7.9 Conclusions -- 8. Therapsids, Anapsids And Early Diapsids -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Therapsids And The Origin Of Mammals. 8.3 Anapsids -- 8.4 Early Diapsids -- 9. The Dinosaurs: Weapons, Display And Reproduction -- 9.1 The Earliest Dinosaurs -- 9.2 Dinosaur Weapons -- 9.3 Reproduction -- 10. Herbivorous Dinosaurs -- 10.1 Introduction -- 10.2 Teeth, Gastroliths And Digestion -- 10.3 Basal Sauropodomorphs Prosauropods -- 10.4 Sauropods -- 10.5 Herbivorous Bipeds -- 10.6 Horned, Plated And Armoured Dinosaurs -- 11. Carnivorous Dinosaurs -- 11.1 Introduction -- 11.2 Dentition -- 11.3 Ceratosaurs -- 11.4 Carnosaurs -- 11.5 The Origin Of Birds -- 12. The Cretaceous Extinction -- 12.1 Introduction -- 12.2 Terminal Mesozoic Events -- 12.3 Dinosaur Extinction: Improbable Hypotheses -- 12.4 Catastrophic Hypotheses -- 12.5 Gradualist Hypotheses. John L. Cloudsley-thompson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [203]-211) And Index.