question Juka Goulart, Rio Bonito, RJ
illustrates Bruno Rosal
edition Felipe van Deursen
Hard to know exactly, because, of course, Brazil didn’t exist. And we are not even talking about Brazil as a nation, created after Cabral, Dom Pedro, etc. But from the country’s own territory. It’s just that all the current continents were united in a single giant land mass, Pangea. In this megacontinent, Brazil was located further south on the planet. Dinosaurs inhabited the Earth in the Mezosoic era, which is divided into three periods: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. That’s 185 million years of evolution. Too long (for comparison, man’s ancestors appeared about 3 million years ago). So a lot has changed over that era.
TERRESTRIAL SAUNA
The average temperature was 3ºC higher, which is a lot. All over the planet, including the area corresponding to Brazil, there were periods of great floods, alternating with droughts, as in the tropical savannas.
WHERE IS THE RIVER THAT WAS HERE?
The seasons were more or less like in tropical Brazil today: a long rainy summer and a dry winter. In the summer, there was so much water that temporary rivers formed, which crossed Pangea – in the dry season, they evaporated or formed flooded areas.
JURASSIC PARKS
The Jurassic period was the height of dinosaur life. It is estimated that 80% of them lived in coastal regions, fleeing the intense winter droughts. In the following period, the Cretaceous, Pangea was divided into two continents, Laurasia and Gondwana. With this, more coastal environments emerged, habitats diversified and flowering plants appeared.
COUNTRY OF FERNS
In the transition from the Jurassic to the Cretaceous (Juro-Cretaceous), the paleoflora of the area corresponding to southern Brazil was similar to the current Cerrado. The typical plant was Dicroidium, a group of primitive gymnosperms, whose foliage resembled that of a fern. The South is the best known region, because it was the most inhabited by dinosaurs (in the world, the main records were found in the USA and Argentina)
VARIOUS FIELDS
Plants were adapted to intense dry periods, with fertilization independent of water. Also, there was no grass (it only appeared at the beginning of the Cenozoic Era, about 65 million years ago). In the Jurassic, large pines appeared. This vegetation extended from the South to the Northeast, including the Midwest. In the Cretaceous, the regions experienced an increase in animal population, with an abundance of birds and reptiles. Fossils were found in Minas Gerais, Ceará and Maranhão
FOOD
Sauropod herbivorous dinosaurs (long-necked quadrupeds and triceratops) fed mainly on ferns and horsetails in the wetter areas. In dry areas, far from the coast, they ate any gymnosperm. They stared at leaves, branches and even tree bark, which, although poorly digestible, were taken over by fungi and bacteria, which made the food more nutritious.
COLORFUL NEWS
The plants were almost all gymnosperms, that is, without flowers and fruits. The closest thing to fruit that existed were the pines of conifers, which served as food for some dinosaurs. In the Cretaceous, angiosperms proliferated, with little fleshy fruits and often microscopic flowers. At the end of the period, when the dinosaurs became extinct, the Earth was full of new colors and scents.
ONE LAST CURIOSITY The hypothesis most accepted by researchers is that the first flowers were born in an aquatic environment: water lilies and water lilies are the oldest
READ TOO
– What were the biggest dinosaurs found in Brazil?
– What was the life of a dinosaur like?
– Were dinosaurs warm-blooded?
– What are the national parks in Brazil?
– How is the map of Jurassic World?
Consultancy Virgílio Caixeta Arraes, professor of history at Unesp-Franca
Sources 2012 Global Property Wakefield survey, The GuardianBBC and Folha de S.Paulo