EASY READ Prehistoric life

Life began about 3.8 billion years ago. Since then, many, many different kinds of plants and animals have evolved (see below) and died out. These living things are often called...

EASY READ How did life begin?

Along with all the other planets of the Solar System, the Earth was formed about 4.6 billion years ago. In its early years, it had no water or life. It was just a ball of barren...

EASY READ What were the first living things?

The first living things probably appeared in the oceans about 3.8 billion years ago. They were tiny life-forms called bacteria. It took another 2.5 billion years before more...

EASY READ What were the first fish like?

The first fish evolved later in the Cambrian Period, probably about 500 million years ago. The fish had neither fins nor jaws. They swam with their mouths held open all the time...

EASY READ When did life first appear on land?

Until about 440 million years ago, there was no life on land. Certain kinds of algae (tiny, simple plants), may have been washed ashore at low tide. Very gradually, they found a...

EASY READ What lived in the Carboniferous swamps?

Around 350 million years ago, hot, steamy jungle covered large areas of the world’s continents. The Carboniferous Period had begun. Giant dragonflies the size of seagulls flitted...

EASY READ What was it like in the Permian deserts?

During the Permian Period, which began 299 million years ago, the rainy, tropical jungle of the Carboniferous disappeared. The Permian world was one of dry scrublands and deserts...

EASY READ When did the first dinosaurs appear?

The archosaurs were a group of reptiles that had powerful jaws and bony armour. Somehow they survived the Great Dying at the end of the Permian. Early archosaurs ran like modern...

EASY READ What was it like in the Jurassic world?

The Jurassic Period ran from 201 to 145 million years ago. The climate was much wetter than the dry Permian and Triassic periods that came before. Dense vegetation grew rapidly in...

EASY READ What was it like in the Cretaceous world?

The Cretaceous Period ran from 145 to 66 million years ago. The world’s land masses divided up into lots of islands. Cut off from each other by the sea, dinosaurs in different...

EASY READ When did reptiles rule the seas?

During the Age of Dinosaurs, reptiles were also masters of the oceans. Most were hunters. They chased prey such as fish, squid and shellfish. Ichthyosaurs looked like dolphins...

EASY READ When did pterosaurs rule the skies?

Pterosaurs were flying reptiles. They first took to the air in the Triassic Period and dominated the skies for the whole of the Age of Dinosaurs. Pterosaurs had wings made of flaps...

EASY READ What caused the end of the dinosaurs?

At the end of the Cretaceous Period, 66 million years ago, all the dinosaurs suddenly died out. It was not only the dinosaurs that became extinct: pterosaurs, marine reptiles and a...

EASY READ When did the Age of Mammals begin?

By the time the dinosaurs became extinct, mammals had long been in existence. They first appeared during the Triassic Period. For millions of years, most were tiny, shrew-like...

EASY READ What was it like during the Ice Ages?

There have been several ice ages during the Earth’s long history. These are times when the climate becomes so cold that ice sheets spread out from the poles and cover huge areas...

EASY READ When did humans first appear?

The first human-like creatures lived in Africa, probably more than five million years ago. They were descended from prehistoric apes. Unlike apes, they learned to walked upright on...

EASY READ What do fossils tell us?

Prehistoric creatures that had hard parts such as bones, teeth and shells—including humans—left behind fossils. Fossils are the remains of living things preserved in stone...

EASY READ Prehistoric glossary

EASY READ Prehistoric humans glossary