What Did Dinosaurs Eat?
Nobody ever watched a dinosaur have dinner. So how do we know what was on the menu? The answer is hiding in their teeth.
Teeth are the best clue
Most dinosaurs ate either plants or meat. Scientists called paleontologists can usually tell which by looking at the shape of their teeth, because a tooth’s shape matches the job it did. Sharp, curved, jagged teeth are for gripping and cutting meat. Flat, wide, chisel or leaf-shaped teeth are for snipping and slicing plants.
Teeth are also some of the most common dinosaur fossils, because they are very hard. Many dinosaurs replaced their teeth all their lives, so one animal could shed hundreds of them. That is why a single tooth can still be found lying in the rock today.
Whose tooth is it?
Here are the five animals in the museum’s Dinosaur Wing, and what their mouths tell us.
CarnivoreT. rex: meat, and bone too
Banana-sized, serrated teeth strong enough to crush bone.
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CarnivoreVelociraptor: small prey
Small, curved teeth with serrations on the back edge, for gripping.
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HerbivoreTriceratops: tough plants
A parrot-like beak and hundreds of slicing teeth that worked like scissors.
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HerbivoreBrachiosaurus: treetop leaves
Chisel-shaped teeth that raked leaves off branches. It swallowed them whole.
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Fish eaterPteranodon: fish
No teeth at all, just a long pointed beak for snatching fish. (Not a dinosaur!)
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Read a tooth like a paleontologist
Found a fossil tooth? Ask it these questions.
- 1
What shape is it?
Curved and pointed means meat. Flat, leaf-shaped or chisel-shaped means plants.
- 2
Are the edges jagged?
Tiny bumps called serrations, like a steak knife, help cut through meat.
- 3
How is it worn?
Wear marks show how the teeth met. Triceratops teeth wore into sharp slicing edges.
- 4
Compare with animals alive today
A crocodile’s cone teeth, a cow’s flat teeth and a shark’s jagged teeth all give clues about food.
More clues: poo, bite marks and stomachs
Teeth are not the only clue. Fossil poo, called coprolites, can contain bits of the last meal. Some T. rex coprolites are full of crunched-up bone, which is how we know it could crush bones.
Bite marks on bones show who bit whom. Triceratops bones with T. rex tooth marks prove that T. rex ate Triceratops, or at least tried to! And once in a while, a fossil is found with its last meal still inside its stomach area, like fish scales or bones from smaller animals.
Tasty Dinosaur Food Facts
Triceratops had hundreds of teeth at once.
They were stacked in columns, with new teeth growing in under the old ones, ready to replace them.
Some dinosaurs ate both plants and meat.
Animals that eat both are called omnivores. Some small dinosaurs probably ate a mix of plants, insects, eggs and little animals.
Brachiosaurus never chewed.
It swallowed leaves whole and let its huge belly break them down slowly.
T. rex could crush bone.
It had the hardest bite of any land animal ever measured, like an elephant sitting on one tooth.
Today’s birds tell us about dinosaur diets.
Birds are living dinosaurs. A hawk’s hooked beak and a finch’s seed-cracking beak show how mouth shape matches food.
Science words to know
- Herbivore
- An animal that eats only plants.
- Carnivore
- An animal that eats meat.
- Omnivore
- An animal that eats both plants and meat.
- Paleontologist
- A scientist who studies fossils to learn about ancient life.
Quick quiz!
0 / 31. A fossil tooth is curved, pointed and jagged. What did its owner eat?
2. What is a coprolite?
3. Which museum animal had no teeth at all?
Questions kids ask
What did dinosaurs eat?
Most dinosaurs ate plants, like ferns, conifers and cycads. Others, like T. rex and Velociraptor, ate meat. A few probably ate both.
How do scientists know what dinosaurs ate?
They study the shape of teeth, fossil poo, bite marks on bones, and sometimes food found inside a fossil’s stomach area.
Did dinosaurs eat grass?
Almost never. Grass was very rare until near the end of the age of dinosaurs, so plant-eaters ate ferns, conifers and other plants instead.
Were most dinosaurs meat-eaters?
No. Plant-eating dinosaurs were far more common, just as there are many more plant-eaters than predators in the wild today.
The Dinosaur Wing
Find fossil teeth, feathers and eggs around the museum, then use the Field Guide to work out which animal each one belongs to.
✔ The whole Dinosaur Wing is free to play
No ads, ever · Plays offline · Made for young kids and adults
