Image: Computer rendering of fleeing nothosaurs
Image: Artist rendering of an Herrerasaurus.
Image: Triassic dinosaurs
Fossil trees, petrified wood in the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
Triassic fish fossil
A small Triassic reptile fossil
Early ichthyosaur fossil
Triassic plant fossil
Sea dragon carving.
Fossil of an embedded Ichthyosaur marine reptile
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Fleeing Nothosaurs
An artist's rendering shows hatchling nothosaurs heading for the safety of water as a hungry but terrestrial Ticinosuchus attacks near a lagoon in ancient Switzerland. Nothosaurs lived during the mid- and late Triassic period and were among the earliest reptiles to take to the sea. Because nothosaurs may have had to come ashore to lay eggs, the eggs and hatchlings would have been vulnerable to Ticinosuchus. Yet once the hatchlings reached deeper waters, they were safe—for the moment.
Artwork by DAMNFX

Triassic Period

See photos of Triassic period dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals from National Geographic.

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