Around 208 million years ago, a global catastrophe wiped out countless species of animals. This marked the end of the Triassic period and the beginning of the Jurassic period.
What caused this catastrophe? Scientists have proposed several explanations. Perhaps a giant asteroid struck Earth; perhaps changes within the Earth triggered a series of volcanic eruptions. These events would have caused drastic climate changes on Earth. Another possibility is that the supercontinent Pangaea, which was unified during the Triassic period, gradually broke apart into smaller continental blocks, thus causing changes in the local environment.
Lugoulong
In any case, while many large reptiles went extinct at this time, smaller dinosaurs, small terrestrial crocodiles, and mammal-like reptiles survived the environmental changes. Dinosaurs were the most important group, as they dominated the Earth for the next 140 million years. Simultaneously, the landscape of vegetation changed, with evergreen shrubs and trees with dense foliage becoming the most common types.
The Lugoulong, discovered in Yunnan Province, my country, is one of the earliest carnivorous dinosaurs to appear in the Early Jurassic period.
Lugoulong was a small, agile theropod dinosaur that walked on two hind legs. Its mouthful of small, knife-like teeth indicated it was a ferocious carnivore. Because its limbs were hollow, scientists called it a coelurosaur. In fact, Coelophysis, which lived in North America during the Late Triassic, was a type of coelurosaur.
As early as 1938, this early Jurassic coelurosaur was discovered in Lufeng, Yunnan Province, my country. Because the Chinese people were engaged in the arduous War of Resistance against Japan at the time, Professor Yang Zhongjian named it Lugoulong.
The Lugoulong was about the size of an ostrich, reaching a height of 1.5 meters when standing. Its head was small and pointed, with high eye sockets on either side of its skull indicating large, round eyes with excellent vision. Its long neck allowed it to hold its head high while roaming the jungle, and its ability to bend and extend its neck in various directions was highly advantageous for searching for prey and escaping predators. Its pointed mouth was filled with small, sharp, cone-shaped teeth, indicating it was a carnivorous dinosaur. The Lugoulong walked on two long, powerful hind legs, while its shorter forelimbs acted like "hands" for catching small vertebrates and insects. When encountering enemies, the Lugoulong would rapidly flee through the jungle, its tail held high for balance.
