Want to know about different types of dinosaurs?

Dinosaurs can be divided into different kinds - by name, species classification, by what they ate,
and by when they lived. Or even by size.

This page lists some common ones by dinosaur classification. Or try an alphabetical list of
dinosaur names and meanings.
Dinosaur Classification for Kids
What are the different types of Dinosaur species?

Dinosaur classification is the way that scientists determine what are dnosaurs, and how to group
them. Find out what different types of dinosaur species there are - and how they are grouped.
Scientists use some basic rules to decide which ancient creatures are dinosaurs. The rules are:

1. Dinosaurs lived between 250-65 million years ago.

2. They lived on land.
3. They had straight legs tucked underneath their bodies.
4. They were reptiles.

Within these basic rules, scientist group dinosaurs into different categories.

Of the two main types of dinosaurs, the most important difference is in the shape of their hip
joints. Dinosaurs with pelvic hips (like lizards) are called Saurischia. The second group,
Ornithischia, are those with with hip bones more like birds.

To see which dinosaurs belong in each group, see the list of different types of dinosaurs.
Saurischia - Lizard Hips
Saurischia are divided into two main groups.

* Theropods - meaning 'Beast foot'. They are the only meat-eating group of dinosaurs. They
walked on three-toed bird like feet with sharp claws. They had powerful legs and short arms.
* Sauropods - lizard footed reptiles. These are the really large herbivores. They walked on all
four feet, had small heads and long necks and tails.

Ornithischia - bird hipped

Ornithischia are firstly divided into two groups, with a total of five main subgroups. All of the
dinosaurs in this group were herbivores.

Thyreophora

* the Stegosaurs (plated or roofed reptiles). These were slow moving medium sized dinosurs
that moved on all fours. Their skins were covered in bony plates or spikes.
* Ankylosauria (armour covered or 'fused together' reptiles). Small to medium sized dinosaurs.
Their bodies were covered in flexible bony armour of slabs or plates.

Cerapods

* Ceratopsia (Ceratopsians)- horned face reptiles. Small to large dinosaurs. Some had horned
or frilled heads, and some had parrot-like beaks. Usually lived in large herds
* Ornithopoda (Ornithopods) meaning bird feet. Small to very large dinosurs that that walked
and ran on their two back feet.
* Pschycephalosauria - thick headed lizards. Small to medium sized dinosaurs that moved
slowly on their back legs. Usually lived in herds.

Millions of years ago, long before there were any people, there were dinosaurs. Dinosaurs were
one of several kinds of prehistoric reptiles that lived during the Mesozoic Era, the "Age of
Reptiles."

The dinosaurs dominated the Earth for over 165 million years, but mysteriously went extinct 65
million years ago. Paleontologists study their fossil remains to learn about the amazing prehistoric
world of dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs were land-dwelling reptiles that walked with an erect stance. Their unique hip structure
caused their legs to stick out from under their bodies, and not sprawl out from the side (like other
reptiles ). When dinosaurs first evolved from more primitive archosaurs, they were bipedal
(walked on two legs). Much later, some dinosaur groups returned to a four-legged stance, having
hind legs much larger than their front legs .

There were lots of different kinds of dinosaurs that lived at different times. Some were HUGE,
some were small. Some walked on two legs, some walked on four . Some were speedy , and
some were slow and lumbering . Some were carnivores and some were herbivores . Some were
armor-plated, some had thick, bumpy skin, some had horns , some even had primitive feathers.

No one knows what colors or patterns they were, how they sounded, how they behaved, how
they mated, or even how to tell whether a fossil came from a male or a female dinosaur.

Dinosaurs suddenly became extinct about 65 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous
period, which was a time of high volcanic and tectonic activity. There are a lot of theories why the
extinction occurred. The most widely accepted theory is that an asteroid impact caused major
climactic changes which the dinosaurs couldn't adapt to.

Although dinosaurs' fossils have been known since 1818, the term dinosaur (deinos = terrifying;
sauros = lizard) was coined by the English anatomist Sir Richard Owen in 1842. The only three
dinosaurs known at the time were Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, and Hylaeosaurus, very large
dinosaurs.
Albertosaurus

Although the small flesh-eating dinosaurs were diverse and dangerous, Cretaceous Alberta was
ruled by members of the family Tyrannosauridae. All tyrannosaurs had hind legs that were long
and powerful, with each hind foot having three toes ending in enormous claws. The two-fingered
front limbs were small, not much larger than a mature human arm. The function of the front limbs
is not known; they are too short to have passed food to the mouth.

Albertosaurus, the "Alberta lizard" was among the more fearsome predators in Cretaceous
Alberta. Almost 10 metres long, it is the most common of the large carnivores found here. Smaller
but longer-limbed than Tyrannosaurus rex, Albertosaurus would have been a mobile hunter,
although it probably fed on the carcasses of already dead animals as well.

Although over eight metres in length, three metres high at the hip, and weighing more than two
tonnes, Albertosaurus may have been capable of attaining speeds of up to 40 kilometres an hour.
This fleetness, combined with obvious physical strength, would have made Albertosaurus a fierce
hunter, perhaps even more so than the more massive Tyrannosaurus rex. Albertosaurus' neck
was strong and muscular, supporting a large but lightly built head. The teeth were long and
recurved with saw-like edges, perfect for tearing flesh. They were not adapted for chewing, make
it likely than Albertosaurus, like most modern reptiles, swallowed flesh in large chunks.

Albertosaurus bones were among the earliest dinosaur remains collected in Alberta. A skull found
by J.B. Tyrrell in 1884 was the first important dinosaur fossil to be discovered along the Red Deer
River. It was named in 1905, the same year that Alberta became a province. Since then, many
Albertosaurus fossils have been discovered. the smallest documented Albertosaurus, a juvenile
less than a quarter of the size of a full grown adult, was collected from Sandy Point on the South
Saskatchewan River in 1986.
Growing up to 13 metres in length, Allosaurus was the most common carnivorous dinosaurs in
Jurassic North America. Smaller meat-eating dinosaurs such as Ornitholestes may have hunted
in packs and scavenged the kills of these larger predators.

Baryonyx is a recently discovered dinosaur that appears to have been especially well suited for
fishing. If so, it is the only known fishing dinosaur.

Baryonyx's nostrils were set back from the tip of its long, narrow, crocodile-like snout, perhaps so
it could stick its nose underwater and still breathe. It had a mouth full of small, sharp teeth -- twice
as many teeth as most dinosaurs -- which were probably great for catching fish.

Baryonyx, meaning "heavy claw," takes its name from the two huge, curved claws, more than a
foot long, that seem to have been attached to its front feet, where they would be handy for
spearing fish. However, since the claws were not attached to the skeleton, scientists are not
certain whether they were on the front or back feet.

Another piece of evidence for Baryonyx's fishy diet is that scientists have found the remains of a
fish dinner where its stomach would have been.

Because of its long front legs, scientists believe Baryonyx may have walked part of the time on all
four legs.

Baryonyx was discovered in 1983 by an amateur fossil hunter in Sussex, England, and is related
to the Spinosaurus.
Camarasaurus was one of the smaller species of dinosaurs. Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus, and
Apatosaurus are some of its larger relatives. These herbivores were common Jurassic dinosaurs.
All walked on four legs, supporting immensely long necks and tails.

At only 18 metres in length, Camarasaurus was shorter than many sauropods. It was one of the
more common Jurassic dinosaurs in North America. Many young specimens, dead before they
reached adulthood, have been discovered.

Diplodocus was an enormous dinosaur that grew as long as 100 feet. But most of this length was
taken up by its incredibly long neck and even longer tail. Diplodocus' body accounted for only
about 13 feet of its entire length, while its tiny head measured a relatively small two feet.

Diplodocus lived during the Late Jurassic Period and probably traveled in herds around what is
now Colorado, Montana and Wyoming, feeding on the lush vegetation that thrived at the time.
Though Diplodocus was a huge animal, it only weighed 11 tons, about one-eighth the weight of
its 75-foot long cousin Brachiosaurus. Diplodocus was much lighter than other large plant-eating
Sauropods because its bones were hollow.

Some scientists, but not all, believe that when Diplodocus was hungry it could stand up on its rear
legs and, using its huge tail for balance, stretch to nearly 50 feet above the ground in order to
feed on the very tops of trees -- about 29 feet higher than today's giraffe can reach!
At nine meters (30 ft) in length, Triceratops was among the largest ceratopsians and one of the
last to become extinct. It made up the bulk of the plant eating population just before the end of the
Cretaceous. Its remains are particularly common in coastal lowland sediments.

Triceratops had a single, short nasal horn and horns as long as hockey sticks protruding above
its eyes. Its head, sometimes as much as three meters (10 ft) long, was the largest ever
possessed by a land animal. It had large eyes and a relatively large brain.

Triceratops was probably a feisty animal. Many specimens have bones damaged in combats with
rivals or predators.

Triceratops remains were first discovered near Denver, Colorado, in 1887. At first they were
identified as the remains of a recently extinct species of buffalo.
Troodon was probably the smartest of the dinosaurs, with a relatively large brain for its body size.

Its name means "wounding tooth," and that is what it was originally known from -- a single tooth.
Later, more complete skeletons were found, and it was discovered that Troodon had different
types of teeth in different parts of its jaw, much as humans do.

Troodon was a lightly built dinosaur with a head sort of like a bird, and eyes that faced forward,
like those of other hunters. It had hands good for grasping, including a thumb that works in the
opposite direction to the rest of its claws, much as people's thumbs work.
A close relative of Albertosaurus, king of the tyrant lizards Tyrannosaurus rex was one of the
amazing dinosaurs to ever live. The largest known meat eater, it was more than 12 metres (37 ft)
long and stood almost as tall as a giraffe. Unlike a giraffe, however, Tyrannosaurus rex was
massive and powerful.

Its skull in particular was an imposing unit of bone. Up to 60 teeth, some of them longer than a
human hand, lined its jaws. If humans had been around, they could have slid down its gullet with
ease. Its eyes faced forward, providing better depth perception, important for a predatory animal,
and its narrowed snout gave it a clear field of vision. At the other end, a heavy tail
counterbalanced the skull. A complete tail has never been found, so no one knows exactly how
long it might have grown.

Tyrannosaurus rex is one of the most famous of the extinct reptiles.

About Dinosaurs

Millions of years ago, different types of dinosaurs ruled the planet. There were various sizes and
species of dinosaurs spread across different time periods. They are now being categorized
according to species, to their kind of diet, their size, and the time period when dinosaursthey
roamed the earth. Discussed below are the types of dinosaurs according to what they eat.

Like animals today, different kinds of dinosaurs had different tastes in food. Some love to eat
plants, others meat, and many lived to consume both plants and meat. Of course, there are no
direct evidence to determine what exactly a dinosaur ate because no one was alive back then to
actually see what dinosaurs actually ate. These classifications were based by scientists on clues
found in dinosaur fossils. Certain facts were also concluded based on the kind of food that were
present during the time period when a certain kind of dinosaur lived.

Dinosaur Types According to Diet

Herbivores

Herbivores, or plant eaters, are dinosaurs which ate plants, leaves, fruits, grass and flowers.
Anything green was considered meals for these dinosaurs. Their movements were usually slow
as there was no need for them to chase after plants. Herbivores with shorter heights tended to
feed on grass and low lying plants, while the taller ones or those with long necks used to feed on
leaves of trees. They were considered to be at the bottom of the food chain because they served
as prey to carnivores. Examples of herbivores include the Kentrosaurus, the Kritosaurus, the
Lambeosaurus, the Lesothosaurus, the Diplodocus, the Diabloceratops, the Corythosaurus and
the Chasmosaurus.

Carnivores

Carnivores, or meat eaters, ate other dinosaurs and other types of animals. They had sharp teeth
and very athletic bodies for running and hunting prey. They were fast movers and most of them
stood on two feet. Some of them have evolved into very efficient hunters, eating prey that they
have just caught and killed. Other carnivores were better suited as scavengers, feeding on dead
dinosaurs that other carnivores had hunted and killed. Examples of carnivores include the
Albertosaurus, the Afrovenator, the Alectrosaurus, the Adasaurus, the Allosaurus, the
Carnotaurus, the Ceratosaurus and the dreaded Tyrannosaurus rex.

Omnivores

Omnivores are the smaller group among the three different types of dinosaurs. But they definitely
stood a bigger chance of survival because they had a wider range of food choices, since they ate
both plants and animals. Examples of omnivores include the Oviraptor, the Sinovenator, the
Pelecanimimus, the Protarchaeopteryx, the Avimimus, the Caudipteryx and the Chirostenotes.

Futher Classification

Herbivores, carnivores and omnivores are further classified into sub-groups based on their body
structure. The two major classifications are ornithischia and saurischia. Dinosaurs in the
ornithischia classification have a pelvic structure similar to birds. Dinosaurs in the saurischia
classification have a pelvic structure similar to lizards. They also have asymmetrical fingers and
long necks.

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