Dinosaurs explicitely lived in the Mesozoic era, exactly from the late Triassic period about 230 million years ago until the end of the Cretaceous about 65 million years ago.
Some were only as big as cats like the Saltopus, others got as big as today's blue whales like the Argentinosaurus, which can get as long as 33 metres and reach a weight of about 190 tons. On the one hand there werde dangerous and speedy predator dinosaurs, on the other hand leisurly vegetarians.
Saltopus
Argentinosaurus
Although all the lizards, that had lived in the mesozoic, are called saurian, only those, who were land animals, are referred to as DINOSAUR, which means terrible or wondrous lizard.
Flying lizards are referred to as Pterosaurs and lizards, that lived in the water, are referred to as Plesiosaur, Ichtyosaur or Mosasaur.
Their strange Latin name very often describes the characteristic of the dinosaur. For example Triceratops, whose name means as much as three-horned face. This special dinosaur had three horns, two longer ones on the front and a smaller one on the nose.
Triceratops
Sometimes the site is included in the name. The first fossilized skeleton of an Albertosaurus for examples was found in the Canadian province Alberta.
Albertosaurus
Some dinosaurs Dinosaurier are named after their discoverers or after famous researchers. One of the biggest dinosaurs, Brachiosaurus brancai, was named after the former director of the Berlin Museum of Natural History Wilhelm von Branca (1844-1928).
Brachiosaurus