June Franks, age 11, of Omamae, Ont., or her question:

What is the Mesozoic Era?

The Mesozoic Era is one of the chapters in the earth's long geological history. It began about 185 million years ago and came to a close about 60 million years ago. This means that it lasted about 125 million years. To us, this is a long time and it all happened in the dim, distant past. But, so far as the earth is concerned, the Mesozoic Era is recent history   for the old earth has had more than three million, million birthdays.

During this chapter of earths diary, the dinosaurs developed into giants. These reptiles were the most numerous and the most powerful animals in the world. There were dinosaurs of all kinds. One variety took to the air and became the ancestor of the first birds, As the period ended, so did the dinosaurs. Little furry mammals had come to live in the world and the next era, the Cenozoic, belonged to them.