Fossils of extinct animals are scarce in the southeastern United States,
but archaeologists have uncovered enough evidence to know that a variety
of dinosaurs lived in Southern forests and coastal lowlands. Large
meat-eaters hunted plant-eating hadrosaurs. Ostrichlike dinosaurs darted
after small prey, and armor-covered nodosaurs rambled through underbrush
75 million years ago. Giant reptiles that were not dinosaurs also lived
in the South. The crocodile-like Deinosuchus, which grew to lengths near
40 feet, lurked along riverbanks. These giants probably ate dinosaurs!
Pterosaurs, or flying reptiles, soared over the coast. One of the
largest, Pteranodon, had a wingspan of 24 feet. Paleontologists have
even identified some entirely new dinosaur species known only in the
South.
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