What were dinosaurs?

Image of a stegosaurus with red spikes and a dark and light green skin chewing some plants. It also has yellow spikes on its tail. A girl os on the foreground holding a magnifying glass to her eye

Dinosaurs were a group of reptiles that lived on Earth millions of years ago.

Some dinosaurs were very big, while others were small. Some ate plants and others ate meat.

Most dinosaurs died out when a big asteroid hit the Earth. This caused huge changes to the planet, making it hard for dinosaurs to survive. When a whole group of animals dies out, you say they have become extinct.

However, not all dinosaurs disappeared. One group survived and became the birds we see all around us today. Birds are actually modern dinosaurs!

Image of a stegosaurus with red spikes and a dark and light green skin chewing some plants. It also has yellow spikes on its tail. A girl os on the foreground holding a magnifying glass to her eye
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Watch:

Watch this video to learn some amazing facts about dinosaurs!

What would it look like if dinosaurs were alive today?

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Science

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Dinosaurs lived on Earth well before humans did.

They came in many different shapes and sizes.

Scientists are still discovering new species of dinosaurs to this day.

You can learn more by looking at the information and activities below.

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Different types of dinosaurs

There a lots of different types of dinosaurs. Have a look at this slideshow to learn about some of them.

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  1. Image of a blue T Rex with green highlights on its body.

    Tyrannosaurus

    Some dinosaurs were as tall as buildings and had sharp teeth, like the Tyrannosaurus rex.

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Activity - Dinosaur Discovery

Work scientifically and become a dinosaur expert in this fun Science game.

You can learn about dinosaurs in:

  • The Cretaceous period
  • The Jurassic period
Dinosaur Discovery
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Discover more on KS1 Science

Have a look at these articles to learn more about different animals and what they eat.

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History

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Dinosaurs died out around 66 million years ago.

Scientists think this may have happened because a huge asteroid hit the Earth, causing massive changes to the climate and environment that many animals, including dinosaurs, could not survive.

Have a look at the information and activities below to find out how scientists learn about dinosaurs.

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Animated image of a dinosaur skeleton with people looking at it.

How do we know about dinosaurs?

Dinosaurs are extinct, which means that they no longer exist today.

Because of this, we can't watch them alive like we do with animals today.

Instead, scientists find out about dinosaurs by studying fossils.

A fossil is something that was once part of a living thing, like bones, teeth, eggs, skin and even footprints.

By studying these fossils, scientists called palaeontologists can learn what dinosaurs looked like and how they lived.

Animated image of a dinosaur skeleton with people looking at it.
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Animated image of Mary Anning holding a shell fossil with her dog next to her. She is wearing a green coat and a yellow hat tied with a red ribbon.

Who was Mary Anning?

Mary Anning was born in 1799 in Lyme Regis, a town in Dorset, England

She discovered many important fossils on the beaches and cliffs near her home.

Her discoveries helped scientists learn more about life on Earth during the time of the dinosaurs.

Even though Mary wasn’t very famous when she was alive, and often didn’t get proper credit for her discoveries, today we remember her as one of the most important fossil hunters ever.

Learn more about Mary Anning

Animated image of Mary Anning holding a shell fossil with her dog next to her. She is wearing a green coat and a yellow hat tied with a red ribbon.
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Activity - Dinosaur dot-to-dot

Have a go at this dot-to-dot activity sheet. Can you complete the dinosaurs?

Dinosaur activity sheet
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You can learn about more significant people from history with these articles.

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Geography

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By finding and studying fossils, scientists know that dinosaur remains have been discovered on every continent, which means dinosaurs lived all over the world.

Have a look at the information and activities below to learn more about fossils and where dinosaurs lived.

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Image of Pangaea. This is labelled with Eurasia, North America, South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia and India.

Where did dinosaurs live?

Many of the oldest known dinosaur fossils have been found in what is today Argentina and Brazil

At that time, all the countries and continents were joined together in one huge landmass called Pangaea.

Early dinosaurs lived in very hot, dry environments including deserts and savannahs.

However, as Pangaea slowly broke apart over millions of years, dinosaurs spread across the world.

They eventually lived in many different places such as forests, wetlands, deserts, and even areas that would later become the North and South Poles.

While dinosaurs lived on land, other prehistoric reptiles lived at the same time. Some could fly, like Pterodactyl, and some lived in the sea, such as Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus.

Image of Pangaea. This is labelled with Eurasia, North America, South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia and India.
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Discover more on KS1 Geography

Learn about more places around the world with these articles.

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Dinosaurs quiz

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More resources from the BBC

You can find many more amazing resources from around the BBC.

Follow the links below for more on dinosaurs.

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Where next?

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