A lot of plants and animals existed in the Mesozoic along with the dinosaurs. Some animals were closely related to the dinosaurs, like the pterosaurs , which belong to the Archosaur clade, as do the dinosaurs. Other archosaurs include the crocodilians (crocodiles, alligators, etc.) and the birds , and pterosaurs. All dinosaurs lived on land; none of them flew or lived in the seas.

Many well-known animals lived before the dinosaurs did. Trilobites (which were arthropods, as are crabs, insects, and spiders) dominated the seas during the late Cambrian period (540-500 million years ago). Much later, in the late Paleozoic Era, during the Permian period, the Dimetrodons lived. The Dimetrodon is more closely related to us than to the dinosaurs.

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The following are not dinosaurs, but they are prehistoric and interesting

DIMETRODON	ICHTHYOSAUR, meaning "fish lizard." Marine reptiles (air breathing) with fins.	PTEROSAUR, meaning "winged lizard."
AMMONITE An early mollusk, a fast-moving predatory marine invertebrate.	TRILOBITE Early arthropods with a segmented body and an exoskeleton (an invertebrate).	PLESIOSAUR Long-necked marine reptile.
MOSASAUR Giant marine lizards.	ARCHELON A car-sized marine turtle.	HYLONOMUS One of the oldest-known reptiles.

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