Types of Dinosaurs

• The smallest types were about the same size as a chicken, and the largest were over 100 feet (30 meters) long.
  
  
• Different dinosaurs ate different diets. Some types of dinosaurs ate only meat ("carnivores"), some ate only plants ("herbivores"), and some ate both plants and meats ("omnivores").
  
  
• Many people incorrectly assume that all the dinosaurs lived together at the same time. This was not the case. The dinosaurs lived during a period known as the Mesozoic Era which lasted many millions of years. During that time, new types of dinosaurs evolved, and other types went extinct. In fact, in terms of distance in time, we are closer to some of the later types of dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops, than they are to some of the mid-period, and relatively early types of dinosaurs such as Stegosaurus or Plateosaurus.
  
  
• The world was very different at the time of the dinosaurs, however the dinosaurs were around for such a long time that the world changed considerably over this period:
  
  
  • At the time of the earliest dinosaurs, the Triassic period, all the Earth's continents were joined together in one super-continent, called Pangaea.
    
    
  • During the final period of the dinosaurs, known as the the Cretaceous period, just before the dinosaurs become extinct, the super-continent had broken up, and the different parts had begun to drift apart into something starting to resemble the modern globe.
  
  Of course, during this entire period, different regions had different climates and ecology, and so different types of animals (including different types of dinosaurs) were found in the various parts of the world.
  
  
• Just like modern animals, the different types of dinosaurs were related to each other. Biologists use the terms "order", "family", "genus" and "species" to classify dinosaurs and to indicate how closely different types of animals are related.
  
  A dinosaur which is the same species as another dinosaur is of the exact same type, whereas two dinosaurs which are of the same genus are closely related but of different types, and two dinosaurs of the same family are a bit more distantly related and so on.

Carnivornes (Meat-Eaters)	Herbivores (Plant-Eaters)	Omnivores (Ate Meat and Plants)
Acrocanthosaurus   Adasaurus   Afrovenator   Albertosaurus   Alectrosaurus   Alioramus   Allosaurus   Anchiornis   Aucasaurus   Bambiraptor   Baryonyx   Buitreraptor   Carcharodontosaurus   Carnotaurus   Ceratosaurus   Coelophysis   Coelurus   Compsognathus   Cryolophosaurus   Deinonychus   Dilong   Dilophosaurus   Dromaeosaurus   Eotyrannus   Epidexipteryx   Giganotosaurus   Gorgosaurus   Guanlong   Herrerasaurus   Majungasaurus   Megalosaurus   Microraptor   Rajasaurus   Rugops   Saltopus   Scipionyx   Sinornithoides   Sinosauropteryx   Spinosaurus   Staurikosaurus   Suchomimus   Tarbosaurus   Torvosaurus   Troodon   Tyrannosaurus rex   Utahraptor   Velociraptor   Xiongguanlong   Yangchuanosaurus	Achelousaurus   Agujaceratops   Alamosaurus   Altirhinus   Alxasaurus   Ampelosaurus   Anchiceratops   Animantarx   Ankylosaurus   Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus) Argentinosaurus   Avaceratops   Bactrosaurus   Brachiosaurus   Camarasaurus   Camptosaurus   Centrosaurus   Cetiosaurus   Chasmosaurus   Corythosaurus   Diabloceratops   Diplodocus   Echinodon   Edmontonia   Edmontosaurus   Eotriceratops   Euoplocephalus (Scolosaurus) Gastonia   Gigantspinosaurus   Giraffatitan   Hadrosaurus   Heterodontosaurus   Hypsilophodon   Iguanodon   Kentrosaurus   Kritosaurus   Lambeosaurus   Lesothosaurus   Magyarosaurus   Maiasaura   Mamenchisaurus   Massospondylus   Melanorosaurus   Minmi   Monoclonius   Mussaurus   Muttaburrasaurus   Nanyangosaurus   Nemegtosaurus   Nigersaurus   Nipponosaurus   Nodosaurus   Ouranosaurus   Pachycephalosaurus   Pachyrhinosaurus   Panoplosaurus   Paralititan   Parasaurolophus   Pentaceratops   Pinacosaurus   Pisanosaurus   Plateosaurus   Prenocephale   Protoceratops   Psittacosaurus   Riojasaurus   Saichania   Saltasaurus   Saurolophus   Scutellosaurus   Seismosaurus   Stegoceras   Stegosaurus   Styracosaurus   Supersaurus (Ultrasauros) Talarurus   Tarchia   Torosaurus   Trachodon   Triceratops   Tuojiangosaurus   Ultrasaurus   Unaysaurus   Zalmoxes   Zuniceratops	Abrictosaurus   Avimimus   Caudipteryx   Chirostenotes   Dromiceiomimus   Gallimimus   Nomingia   Ornithomimus   Oviraptor   Pelecanimimus   Protarchaeopteryx   Sinovenator   Struthiomimus

Related Information & Resources

• Dinosaur Classification
  
  
• Dinosaur Definition - What is a dinosaur?
  
  
• Dinosaur Names
  
  
• Other Prehistoric Animals

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