Animals of the Lost World

Today we know a lot about life on Earth millions of years ago: long before the appearance of humans, it was inhabited by flying and swimming reptiles, dinosaurs, and mammal-like reptiles, that modern species evolved from ancient types, and that many ancient animals looked nothing like they were previously imagined. But for us to learn this, science has gone through a long and complex journey from superstitions - to hypotheses and evidence, through mistakes and misconceptions - to the truth.
For thousands of years, scientists searched for answers to the question of whom the fossilized bones and shells found in the ground, in the mountains, and on the coast belonged to, explaining their nature through the existence of giants and monsters, witchcraft, and the Great Flood. And when no one had any doubts that completely different animals - strange mammals and huge reptiles that later became extinct - lived on Earth before, paleontologists began to reconstruct their appearance, behavior, and habitat.
Sometimes new discoveries turned everything upside down: a spike on the nose became a finger of the forelimb, tentacles on the back became legs, and an egg thief became a caring hen. In this book, you will meet hallucinogenia, a creature without a tail and head, the walking fish Tiktaalik, a huge plesiosaur resembling a sea dragon, and many other incredible creatures, most importantly, the stars of dinosaur mania, T. rex and Diplodocus.