Dinosaurs were the dominant animal on Earth for about 150 million years. Hard to believe isn’t it? We still love learning about them today, with books, songs, TV shows, movies and dino shows celebrating these prehistoric beasts in style. Dinosaurs were highly adaptive, moving from place to place and making the most of ever-changing climates. So, let’s check out nine dinosaur habitats in more detail.

1. Deserts

Dinosaurs took on challenging desert terrain and conditions, with the Proteoceratops, Oviraptor and Velociraptor inhabiting the Gobi Desert during the Mesozoic Era. Interestingly, an entwined fossil of a Protoceratops fighting a Veloceraptor was preserved by a violent sandstorm during the late Cretaceous period.

1. Plains

Herds of plant-eating dinosaurs such as Ceratopsians, Hadrosaurs and Ornithopods as well as meat eaters such as Velociraptors and Tyrannosaurs would roam extensive flatlands looking for food. As grass was yet to evolve, the plains were covered with ferns and other prehistoric plants. Learn more about your favourite beasts at Dinosaur World Live. This educational show really is one of the best family things to do in London.

1. Wetlands

Water from hills and mountains would flow down to create soggy low-lying plains. These wetlands covered most of Europe during the early Cretaceous period and were inhabited by herbivores such as Iguanodon, Polacanthus and Hypsilophodon.

1. Lush, Green Forests

If you’ve ever seen the movie The Land Before Time, you’ll know that long-necks, or Diplodocus dinosaurs, loved to eat plenty of lush, green vegetation. That’s why they’d migrate to riparian forests which grew alongside rivers or marshes. Here, there was plenty to eat. The only major environmental danger was flooding.

1. Swamp Forests

These were similar to riparian forests, except they were home to flowers and other plants. These provided a great source of nutrients for duck-billed dinosaurs. Smaller dinos, however, had to watch out for predators such as the ferocious T-Rex who also roamed the swamps.

1. Lagoons

Dead organisms that float to the bottom of lagoons are easily preserved by silt. So there have been extensive fossil records from prehistoric lagoons across Europe. Flying reptiles known as Pterosaurs were found where large bodies of calm, tepid water would have been.

1. Shorelines

Dinosaurs loved taking a long walk by the shore in pursuit of food. While the shorelines of the Mesozoic Era were not the same as they are today, preserved footprints indicate a shoreline migration route along the western edge of the Western Interior Sea. This ran through Colorado and New Mexico (rather than California).

1. Islands

The world looked very different millions of years ago. There were not seven continents; instead, there was one giant landmass known as Pangea. That said, there were still break-off islands, with Hatzeg Island yielding the remains of the dwarf titanosaur Magyarosaurus as well as the giant pterosaur Hatzegopteryx. Hatzeg was located where Romania currently is.

1. Polar Regions

The polar regions weren’t nearly as cold as they are today, but they were still plunged into darkness for many hours. It’s thought that cold-blooded dinosaurs such as Ankylosaur lived here.

If you’re dino mad, be sure to book your tickets to Dinosaur World Live to enjoy some of the best family theatre in London and make memories to last a lifetime.