Prehistoric New York

200 million years PREHISTORIC NEW YORK was a region that was a semi-tropical landscape rattled by earthquakes and scarred by lava flows. It was home to a bizarre array of amphibians and reptiles, including the dinosaur Coelophysis, a meat-eating, ostrich-like creature. Mastodons roamed the streets of what is now Manhattan. Scientists believe the honey locust trees that now line Fifth Avenue near Rockefeller Center evolved their thorns to protect them from munching by these mastodons.