Kinds of dinosaurs

Plant-eating dinosaurs and meat-eating dinosaurs

Some dinosaurs ate plants. Scientists call them herbivores. Some ate meat. Those are the carnivores. And a few ate both, whatever they could find.

Play the sorting game to see which was which, then learn the trick scientists use: look at the teeth.

The Brachiosaurus from Dinosaurs Are Back, a paper cut-outThe T. rex from Dinosaurs Are Back, a paper cut-out

Leaves for me. Don't ask what HE had.

The short answer

  • Most dinosaurs ate plants. Long necks, horned dinosaurs, armored dinosaurs and duck bills were all plant-eaters.
  • Meat-eaters walked on two legs and had sharp teeth. T. rex, Velociraptor and Carnotaurus were meat-eaters.
  • To tell them apart, look at the teeth: sharp like knives for meat, flat or peg-shaped (or a beak) for plants.

Play

Plants or meat? Sort Spike's ten

Here are the ten dinosaurs that Spike, a young Triceratops, meets on his adventure. Five ate plants and five ate meat. Can you guess which?

  • Tyrannosaurus rex, a paper cut-outTyrannosaurus rex
  • Stegosaurus, a paper cut-outStegosaurus
  • Spinosaurus, a paper cut-outSpinosaurus
  • Triceratops, a paper cut-outTriceratops
  • Velociraptor, a paper cut-outVelociraptor
  • Brachiosaurus, a paper cut-outBrachiosaurus
  • Dilophosaurus, a paper cut-outDilophosaurus
  • Apatosaurus, a paper cut-outApatosaurus
  • Carnotaurus, a paper cut-outCarnotaurus
  • Ankylosaurus, a paper cut-outAnkylosaurus

Tap Plants or Meat under each dinosaur.

If you'd rather use scissors, print the sorting sheet.

Herbivores

Plant-eating dinosaurs

A herbivore is an animal that eats plants. Most kinds of dinosaur were herbivores, and that includes the biggest dinosaurs of all. Plants are tough to eat, so plant-eaters needed special tools: beaks for snipping, and teeth for raking or grinding.

The five plant-eaters Spike meets

Five more plant-eaters

  • Iguanodon, an outlineIguanodonSay it: ig-WHA-noh-don · “iguana tooth”A beak at the front, chewing teeth at the back, and a big spike on each thumb. About 10 meters (33 feet) long.
  • Diplodocus, an outlineDiplodocusSay it: DIP-low-DOCK-us · “double beam”A long neck with teeth in rows, like a comb, for raking soft leaves off the trees.
  • Edmontosaurus, an outlineEdmontosaurusSay it: ed-MON-toe-sore-us · “Edmonton lizard”A duck-billed dinosaur with 1,000 grinding teeth. Pine needles and twigs have been found in its stomach.
  • Maiasaura, an outlineMaiasauraSay it: my-ah-SORE-ah · “good mother lizard”Another duck bill. It is famous for its nests.
  • Styracosaurus, an outlineStyracosaurusSay it: sty-RAK-oh-sore-us · “spiked lizard”One of the horned dinosaurs, with a beak like a parrot's.

Carnivores

Meat-eating dinosaurs

A carnivore is an animal that eats meat. The meat-eating dinosaurs walked on two legs and had sharp teeth, and they ate fish, lizards, insects, eggs and other dinosaurs. There were always far fewer of them than plant-eaters.

The five meat-eaters Spike meets

Five more meat-eaters

  • Allosaurus, an outlineAllosaurusSay it: AL-oh-saw-russ · “different lizard”Teeth like daggers with saw edges. Its bite marks have been found on Stegosaurus bones.
  • Giganotosaurus, an outlineGiganotosaurusSay it: gig-an-OH-toe-SORE-us · “giant southern lizard”About 13 meters (43 feet) long, with long teeth like blades for slicing. It was found in Argentina in 1993.
  • Baryonyx, an outlineBaryonyxSay it: bah-ree-ON-icks · “heavy claw”A fisher. It may have waded into the shallows and hooked fish with its claws.
  • Deinonychus, an outlineDeinonychusSay it: dye-NON-ick-us · “terrible claw”A big curved claw on each foot, held up off the ground to keep it sharp.
  • Coelophysis, an outlineCoelophysisSay it: seel-OH-fie-sis · “hollow form”One of the early meat-eaters, small and quick. It caught insects and small reptiles.

Which was the biggest meat-eater? Bigger than T. rex.

Count them

How many ate what?

The Natural History Museum in London keeps a list of more than 300 dinosaurs. Sorted by their food, it looks like this:

  1. 195 kinds ate plants
  2. 99 kinds ate other animals
  3. 30 kinds ate both

Omnivores

Dinosaurs that ate both

An omnivore eats plants AND animals, whatever is around. You are probably one! Among the dinosaurs, Oviraptor (a beak and no teeth) and Ornithomimus (it looked a lot like an ostrich) were omnivores.

Oviraptor, an outlineOrnithomimus, an outline
Therizinosaurus, an outline: a big dinosaur on two legs with very long claws on its hands

The dinosaur with the long claws

Therizinosaurus (say it: theh-riz-in-oh-SORE-us) means “scythe lizard”. The claws on its hands were 50 centimeters (20 inches) long, thought to be the longest of any land animal ever. It walked on two legs, like the meat-eaters.

And with claws like that, it ate plants! Some experts think it used them to pull branches towards its mouth.

Dinosaur teeth

How can you tell what a dinosaur ate?

Nobody ever watched a dinosaur eat its dinner. So scientists are detectives, and these are their clues.

Sharp teeth with saw edges

A meat-eater's teeth are pointed, with tiny saw edges that grip and rip. A tyrannosaur's thick teeth have a nickname: killer bananas.

Pegs, grinders and beaks

Long necks couldn't chew. Their peg-shaped teeth raked leaves off the branch. Duck bills did chew, with hundreds of grinding teeth. Triceratops snipped plants with a sharp beak.

Smooth cones for fish

Spinosaurus had smooth, cone-shaped teeth like a crocodile's. They are perfect for holding on to a slippery fish.

Fossil poo

Yes, really. Scientists call it a coprolite. Bits of bone in it mean a meat-eater. Seeds and leaves mean a plant-eater. A T. rex poo found in Canada in 1995 was full of bone from a young duck-billed dinosaur.

Bite marks

T. rex tooth marks have been found on Triceratops bones, and Allosaurus bite marks on Stegosaurus bones.

Stones in the stomach

Many long necks have been found with stones that may once have been in their stomachs. Chickens swallow little stones too, to help break up their food, because they can't chew.

Look at those teeth

This is the T. rex from Dinosaurs Are Back. Turn it with your finger or mouse and have a good look at its mouth. On a phone or tablet, tap “See it in your room” and it stands on your floor.

Tyrannosaurus rex was so big and strong, it could eat up to 230 kilograms (507 pounds) of meat and bones in one bite!
Katia, in Dinosaurs Are Back

Now look at its arms. They were only about one meter (3 feet) long, with two fingers each. Carnotaurus had tiny arms too, with four fingers, and hardly used them.

T. rex facts for kids · A plant-eater in 3D: Apatosaurus

3D Tyrannosaurus rex from Dinosaurs Are Back, ready to stand in your room in augmented reality
Drag to spin. On a phone or tablet this opens AR.

The menu

What did dinosaurs eat?

For the plant-eaters: ferns, horsetails, conifers (trees with cones and needles), cycads and ginkgoes. Flowers came later, and the very last dinosaurs had fruit to eat too. There were no lawns to graze on: grass only turned up near the very end.

For the meat-eaters: fish, insects, lizards, small furry animals, eggs, and other dinosaurs. Many were happy to eat something that was already dead, too.

Free, no sign-up

Print the “Plant-eater or meat-eater?” sorting sheet

Three pages: a mat with two boxes, ten dinosaurs to cut out, and the answers for the grown-up. Cut, sort, stick. Good for small hands and for classrooms.

There's a black and white version to color in first.

ColorUS LetterA4

Black and whiteUS LetterA4

Free for home and classroom use. Please share the link to this page rather than the file.

The free printable dinosaur sorting sheet: a mat with two boxes, Plants and Meat, and ten dinosaurs to cut out

Questions kids ask

Quick answers

Were most dinosaurs plant-eaters or meat-eaters?
Plant-eaters. The Natural History Museum in London lists 195 kinds of dinosaur that ate plants, 99 that ate other animals and 30 that ate both.
What is a herbivore dinosaur?
A dinosaur that ate plants, like Triceratops, Stegosaurus and all the long necks. Herbivore is the scientists' word for plant-eater.
What is a carnivore dinosaur?
A dinosaur that ate meat, like T. rex, Velociraptor and Carnotaurus. Carnivore is the scientists' word for meat-eater.
Which dinosaurs were omnivores?
Omnivores ate both plants and animals, whatever they could find. Oviraptor and Ornithomimus were omnivores.
How do scientists know what a dinosaur ate?
Mostly from its teeth. Sharp teeth with saw edges are for meat. Flat grinding teeth, peg teeth and beaks are for plants. Fossil poo helps too, and sometimes a last meal is found inside the skeleton.
What dinosaur has long claws?
Therizinosaurus. Its hand claws were 50 centimeters (20 inches) long, thought to be the longest of any land animal ever. And it ate plants!
What dinosaur has tiny arms?
T. rex and Carnotaurus. A T. rex's arms were only about one meter (3 feet) long, with two fingers each. And Katia writes in Dinosaurs Are Back: "Carnotaurus was a fast, meat-eating dinosaur with remarkably short arms."
Did meat-eating dinosaurs eat plant-eating dinosaurs?
Yes. T. rex tooth marks have been found on Triceratops bones, and Allosaurus bite marks on Stegosaurus bones.

Keep sorting

More kinds of dinosaurs

Got a big question instead? The biggest, the fastest, the fliers and the long necks. Or meet ten dinosaurs, one page each, with a fun fact and a riddle.

Cover of Dinosaurs Are Back, an interactive 3D dinosaur book in augmented reality

Our own bookA picture book · ages 6 to 10

Dinosaurs Are Back

Spike is a plant-eater, and some of the dinosaurs he meets would like him for lunch. A T. rex chases him for hours, and a Spinosaurus spits him out. All ten step off the page with a phone or tablet.

Buy on Amazon · $14.99Look inside

Where these facts come from

Katia's facts are from the fact page near the end of Dinosaurs Are Back. Everything else was checked on these pages on October 1, 2026.

Picture credits