Ecology and behaviour of mesozoic reptiles / Экология и поведение мезозойских рептилий

Popular interest in dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles began during the third decade of the 19th century,and has increased continually since that time. In 1841, the name Dinosauria (‘terrible lizards’) was proposed by Richard Owen at the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Plymouth; it first appeared in print the following year. During subsequent decades, both scientific and popular interest were extended to pterosaurs, mosasaurs, ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs.Mesozoic reptiles, especially dinosaurs, likewise earned their place in science fiction, films and comic strips. It is no coincidence that both my wife and I were thrilled especially by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World (1912) whilst at school. Anne even read it by the flickering light of a coal firewhilst in the sanatoriumquarantined for chickenpox! Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan, and numerous other authors wrote stories about dinosaurs during the first part of the 20th Century, whilst they appeared in many early films, notably The Lost World (1925) and King Kong (1933). <...>