When Dinosaurs Roamed America facts for kids

When Dinosaurs Roamed America is a 2001 television movie from the Discovery Channel. It's like a journey back in time to see the amazing dinosaurs that lived in North America. The movie is told by John Goodman, and it shows us different dinosaurs from the Mesozoic era. What's cool is that the backgrounds you see in the movie are real places in America!

Meet the Dinosaurs of Ancient America!

This movie takes you through different time periods to meet the creatures that lived then.

Late Triassic Period: The Beginning of Dinosaurs

This part of the movie shows us what North America was like about 220 million years ago. It was a time when the first dinosaurs were appearing.

• Coelophysis
• Rutiodon
• Desmatosuchus
• Icarosaurus
• Traversodon
• Unidentified mammal, probably Morganucodon or Megazostrodon (These were very early, small mammals.)
• quoll (This animal appeared by accident during filming.)
• locust (An animated insect.)

Early Jurassic Period: Giants Start to Grow

Next, the movie jumps to about 180 million years ago. Dinosaurs were getting bigger and more common.

• Dilophosaurus
• Megapnosaurus (In the movie, it was called Syntarsus, which was its name at the time.)
• Anchisaurus (This dinosaur looked a lot like Massospondylus in the movie.)

Late Jurassic Period: The Age of Huge Dinosaurs

This section takes us to about 150 million years ago, when some of the biggest dinosaurs lived.

• Camarasaurus
• Allosaurus
• Apatosaurus
• Stegosaurus
• Dryosaurus
• Ceratosaurus
• Unidentified pterosaur, probably Pterodactylus (Pterosaurs were flying reptiles, not dinosaurs.)

Middle Cretaceous Period: New Kinds of Dinosaurs

Around 90 million years ago, new types of dinosaurs started to appear.

• Nothronychus
• Dromaeosaurus (The movie called it a dromaeosaur, which is a type of dinosaur.)
• Zuniceratops
• Coelurosaurus (The movie called it a coelurosaur, which is a group of dinosaurs.)

Late Cretaceous Period: The Last Dinosaurs

Finally, the movie shows us North America about 65 million years ago, right before the dinosaurs disappeared.

• Tyrannosaurus
• Triceratops
• Anatotitan
• Quetzalcoatlus (This was a giant flying reptile.)
• Purgatorius (This early mammal was played by an opossum in the movie.)
• Ornithomimus (This dinosaur was not named in the movie but was revealed on the web.)
• Spider (A real spider was used in this part.)

See also

In Spanish: When Dinosaurs Roamed America para niños