Dinosaur Facts

Types of Dinosaurs

What is a dinosaur?

A “dinosaur” is a type of reptile with thick leather-like skin and a bony skeleton. There were many different types of dinosaurs. The first dinosaurs lived in the Triassic period, about 225 million years ago. During the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, more types of dinosaurs developed. Dinosaurs disappeared mysteriously 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous period. Dinosaur means, “terrible lizard” which was from the Greek words “deinos” [terrible] and “sauros” [lizard].

What we know about the types of dinosaurs that lived, we learned from the fossils that have been found. All the familiar types of dinosaurs died at the end of the Cretaceous period.

Compsognathus was the smallest type known. This small dinosaur was about the size of a chicken. There are quite a few dinosaurs that are considered in competition as being the largest. Several types of dinosaurs were over 100 feet long. A Sauropod, which is a dinosaur with a long neck and also a plant eater, can be considered among the largest.

Then there are the flying reptiles. Pterosaurs are sometimes mistaken for a type of dinosaur, but they are only close relatives. Pterosaurs are often called Pterodactyls, which means “wing finger”. There were also reptiles that lived in the seas. These reptiles were also not considered to be among types of dinosaurs.

People have always been fascinated by dinosaurs. Whether they are the fierce, meat eating hunter types, or the more gentle plant eating dinosaurs, children as well as adults can't seem to get enough of them. Let's explore a few of the most popular types of dinosaurs. Which one is your favorite?