dinosaur: Media
fossil reptile
Videos
Find out whether dinosaurs really had feathers
Learn more about what kinds of dinosaurs may have had feathers and when.
How were dinosaurs discovered?
Learn about the history of people discovering fossils and the coining of the term...
Archaeopteryx: The holy grail of fossils
Archaeopteryx is the earliest known dinosaur that's also a bird.
Learn about the discovery of dinosaur “Sue” and the competition between collectors
A discussion of the competition among collectors and museums for dinosaur bones,...
How to identify new species with just one bone
Hell Creek was home to T. rex, Triceratops, and now…these...
Discover the differences between Louis Dollo's former reconstruction and David Norman's current reconstruction of Iguanodon
Former reconstruction of Iguanodon by Louis Dollo (1870s), followed by current...
Why don't birds have teeth?
Birds descended from dinosaurs, but they don't have their ancestors' bite.
How did tyrannosaurs walk?
Biomechanical reconstruction of a tyrannosaur in motion, showing skeletal structure.
Watch Earth's continents move, from 650 million years ago to 250 million years in the future
A time-lapse representation of Earth changing through geologic time, from the late...
What did ancient animals REALLY eat?
Findings about a small bird have scientists rethinking dino diets.
Take a trip to Australia's Dinosaur Trail in Queensland, including the towns of Richmond, Hughenden, and Winton
A trip along the Dinosaur Trail in central Queensland, Australia. Stops include Richmond,...
How did dinosaurs go extinct?
John Rafferty, associate editor of Earth sciences of Encyclopædia Britannica,...
Images
dinosaurs to scale
A selection of dinosaurs grouped by the geologic interval in which they lived.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Dinosaur National Monument
Scientists excavating dinosaur fossils from a quarry wall in Dinosaur National Monument,...
National Park Service
Plateosaurus
Plateosaurus, late Triassic dinosaur. A large herbivore, it may have reared...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Iguanodon
Iguanodon, an early Cretaceous dinosaur, was a massive herbivore with a...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Compsognathus
Compsognathus, late Jurassic dinosaur. It was a swift and agile predator...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Troodon
Troodon, late Cretaceous dinosaur. This birdlike predator had large keen...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Coelophysis
Coelophysis, a late Triassic dinosaur, was among the earliest dinosaurs...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Eoraptor
Eoraptor, late Triassic dinosaur. A more primitive contemporary of Herrerasaurus,...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Major dinosaur fossil sites
Distributed on all continents, more than 1,000 different sites containing dinosaur...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
computer reconstruction
Functional anatomic studies have revealed that the upright, tail-dragging posture...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Luis and Walter Alvarez
Physicist Luis Alvarez (left) and his geologist son Walter standing next to a clay...
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
structural relationships
Structural relationship between Troodon (a dinosaur) and Archaeopteryx...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Ceratosaurus and Psittacosaurus
Differences in dentition between plant-eating and meat-eating dinosaurs.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Shantungosaurus
Shantungosaurus, a late Cretaceous dinosaur and close relative of Anatosaurus,...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Brachiosaurus
Brachiosaurus, late Jurassic to early Cretaceous dinosaur. A massive herbivore...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Ceratosaurus
Ceratosaurus, a late Jurassic dinosaur, was a large predator with bladelike...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Deinonychus
Deinonychus, an early Cretaceous dinosaur, was a formidable predator capable...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
fossilized eggs
Eggs once thought to have belonged to Protoceratops are now known to be...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Ornithomimus
Ornithomimus, a late Cretaceous dinosaur, was a swift omnivore with a small...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Apatosaurus
Apatosaurus, a late Jurassic dinosaur, was a massive herbivore that weighed...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Barosaurus
A Barosaurus skeleton on exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History,...
© Index Open
selected taxonomy
Dinosaurs are classified into subgroups on the basis of major skeletal features.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
dinosaur pelvis structure
Pelvis structure in saurischians and ornithischians.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Allosaurus
Allosaurus, a late Jurassic dinosaur, was a large fearsome predator with...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Herrerasaurus
Herrerasaurus, a late Triassic dinosaur, was one of the earliest known dinosaurs....
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Tyrannosaurus
If Tyrannosaurus had stood upright, it would have been more than 6.5...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Velociraptor
(Top) Artist's re-creation of Velociraptor and (bottom) reconstruction of...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Lesothosaurus
Lesothosaurus, early Jurassic dinosaur. This tiny herbivore was lightly...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Hypsilophodon
Hypsilophodon, early Cretaceous dinosaur. This herbivore was small and fast...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Triceratops
Triceratops, a late Cretaceous dinosaur, was a massive herbivore with a...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Psittacosaurus
The forward region of the skull of Psittacosaurus was shaped very much like...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Protoceratops
Protoceratops, late Cretaceous dinosaur. This herbivore was solidly built...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus, late Jurassic dinosaur. The largest known plated dinosaur,...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Euoplocephalus
Euoplocephalus, a late Cretaceous dinosaur, was a broad-beaked herbivore...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Argentinosaurus
A reconstruction of Argentinosaurus, measuring about 40 metres (131 feet)...
William Irvin Sellers, Lee Margetts, Rodolfo Aníbal Coria, Phillip Lars Manning
Dreadnoughtus
Dreadnoughtus, the largest dinosaur whose size can be calculated reliably....
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Interactives
The origins of birds.
Join the search for how birds evolved from Mesozoic-era dinosaurs in our interactive.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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