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Triassic Period: Quick Facts

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Triassic paleogeography
A detailed geologic time scale chart displaying Earth's history from the Hadean Eon over 4.5 billion years ago to the present, organized by eons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages with color-coded columns and corresponding dates in millions of years.
Pangea: Early Triassic Period
Daonella
Illustration of a Lystrosaurus, an extinct dicynodont therapsid, showing a stocky, quadrupedal animal with a short tail, beaked mouth, and two prominent tusks, with a scale bar above for size reference.
Illustration of Plateosaurus, a large, long-necked herbivorous dinosaur from the late Triassic period, shown in profile with a human and dog for scale. The Plateosaurus stands on four legs, highlighting its long tail and neck, and may have reared up to reach high vegetation. Scale bars indicate 1 meter and 3 feet, and text notes its length of 26 feet and European origin.
Illustration of the dinosaur Coelophysis, showing a slender, long-tailed predator with birdlike hollow limbs, standing beside a modern bird for size comparison. Measurement bars indicate Coelophysis could reach about 9 feet in length. Text notes it lived in large herds during the Late Triassic in North America.
Chart showing the Triassic period within the Mesozoic era, listing its division into Lower, Middle, and Upper epochs, with corresponding ages such as Induan, Olenekian, Anisian, Ladinian, Carnian, Norian, and Rhaetian, and marking boundaries in millions of years ago.
A timeline chart shows major events in plant evolution alongside the geologic time scale, with illustrations of algae, mosses, ferns, ginkgoes, conifers, cycads, and flowering plants marking their first appearances from the Ordovician to the Cenozoic era. Key milestones such as the emergence of early vascular plants and seed plants are labeled with approximate millions of years ago.
Line graph showing the number of marine animal families from the Precambrian era to the present, with illustrations of key groups such as trilobites, ammonoids, marine reptiles, and diatoms. The graph highlights major extinction events and a rise to 1,900 living families today.
Collage showing a dog plus a saber-toothed cat equaling a prehistoric, quadrupedal creature with thick limbs and dark, hairless skin.
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Key People

Mantell, detail of an engraving
Gideon Algernon Mantell
British paleontologist