The 16 Most Popular Dinosaurs

The study of dinosaurs has fascinated humans for centuries and there are now many different museums all over the world dedicated to this fascinating topic.

Some of the most popular dinosaurs are the Tyrannosaurus rex, Velociraptor, Brachiosaurus, and Stegosaurus.

Dinosaurs were some of the most popular creatures to ever roam the Earth.

They are often featured in movies, books, and even video games.

The dinosaurs are one of the most popular groups of animals to study in classrooms all over the world.

In this article, we’ll take a look at the 16 most popular dinosaurs.

And this article Discoverthedinosaurs.com will help you answering about Most Popular Dinosaurs

Tyrannosaurus Rex

This fearsome carnivore ruled the Jurassic period and was enormous, reaching lengths of up to 30 feet and weights of up to two tons.

With razor-sharp claws and teeth, Tyrannosaurus Rex was a formidable predator.

Triceratops

The North American Triceratops is probably the most instantly recognizable of all dinosaurs because of its three-horned face, parrot-like beak, and huge frill at the back of its head.

It combined a gentle, plant-eating disposition with three fearsome-looking horns that were probably used both in courtship and keeping hungry tyrannosaurs and raptors at bay.

This dinosaur is from the late Cretaceous period (68-66 million years ago), and the adults were big—about 26 feet long, 10 feet tall, and 12 tons.

It’s South Dakota’s state fossil and Wyoming’s official state dinosaur.

It was later shrunken considerably to promote the film “Night at the Museum: The Secret of the Tomb” as a freebie in fast-food meals for kids.

A room full of dinosaurs at a museum is a great place for dinosaur enthusiasts, and the Triceratops is a popular exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City—you can see evidence of an injury from a possible fight with another Triceratops on the fossil at this museum.

And, at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., kids of all ages still can’t wait to see the museum’s beloved Hatcher, a favorite Triceratops specimen enjoyed in a complete form by crowds since 1905 until it fell apart 90 years later and was displayed as a T. rex meal.

Brontosaurus

The long, thin neck and small head of a Brontosaurus was adapted for a herbivorous lifestyle.

The bulky, heavy torso and long, whip-like tail was used for balance.

The various species lived during the Late Jurassic epoch, in the Morrison Formation of what is now North America.

Adult individuals of Brontosaurus are estimated to have weighed up to 15 tonnes (17 short tons) and measured up to 22 metres (72 feet) long.

Brontosaurus is a well-known dinosaur that has been featured in many types of media, including film, advertising, and postage stamps.

Stegosaurus

This fearsome herbivore was one of the most common dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous period.

Standing up to 10 feet tall and weighing up to two tons, Stegosaurus was a formidable predator.

Archaeopteryx

The exquisitely preserved fossils of Archaeopteryx are some of the most famous in the world.

Even though it had wings, it’s still not clear if it could fly or glide, which gives imagination something to run with.

Styracosaurus

The Styracosaurus lived during the Cretaceous period, which was a time period that lasted for 70 million years.

The thing that makes this period unique is that it ended 66 million years ago when the dinosaurs went extinct.

The Styracosaurus was one of the last dinosaurs to exist! This herbivore lived in North America, specifically Canada.

Its fossils have been found in Montana and Alberta.

Velociraptor

Velociraptor was a bipedal, feathered carnivore that shared many anatomical features with other dromaeosaurids like Deinonychus and Achillobator.

It had a long tail and an enlarged sickle-shaped claw on each hindfoot, which is thought to have been used to tackle and tear into prey.

Velociraptor can be distinguished from other dromaeosaurids by its long and low skull, with an upturned snout.

Velociraptor is one of the most well-known genera of dinosaurs, due to its role in the Jurassic Park movies.

However, these dinosaurs were considerably smaller than the ones depicted in the movies – about the size of a turkey.

Velociraptor is well known to paleontologists, with over a dozen described fossil skeletons, the most of any dromaeosaurid.

One particularly famous specimen preserves a Velociraptor locked in combat with a Protoceratops.

This provides valuable information on the behavior of both dinosaurs.

Diplodocus

This genus of dinosaurs lived in what is now the mid-western United States, at the end of the Jurassic period.

It is one of the more common dinosaur fossils found in the middle to upper Morrison Formation, between about 154 and 152 million years ago, during the late Kimmeridgian age.

The Morrison Formation records an environment and time where there were gigantic sauropod dinosaurs, such as Apatosaurus, Barosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Brontosaurus, and Camarasaurus.

The large size of Diplodocus may have served as a deterrent to the predators Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus: their remains have been found in the same strata, which suggests that they coexisted with Diplodocus.

Diplodocus is one of the most easily identifiable dinosaurs, with its typical sauropod shape, long neck and tail, and four sturdy legs. For many years, it was the longest dinosaur known.

Brachiosaurus

This enormous herbivore was one of the largest dinosaurs ever to walk the Earth.

At up to 70 feet long and 25 tons, Brachiosaurus was a powerhouse on the land.

Gallimimus

Gallimimus adults weighed around 440 kilograms and were approximately 6 meters long.

They had big eyes on each side of their head and scientists believe they might have had feathers on their body.

Can you imagine a dinosaur without teeth?

Gallimimus was interesting because it had no teeth and relied on its long beak for feeding.

It also had a long, thin neck that gave it agility when preying and feeding.

If you’re a fan of The Jurassic Park movies, you may have seen Gallimimus before!

Plesiosaurus

Plesiosaurus was a prehistoric marine reptile that lived during the Jurassic Period.

It was not a dinosaur, though it lived during the same time as many dinosaurs.

The first Plesiosaurus fossil was discovered in 1821.

Plesiosaurus was a marine reptile that lived in the Jurassic period.

It used four fins and a short broad tail for mobility, and had a serpentine neck almost as long as the rest of its body, with a small head at the end.

They were usually about 11 feet in length, full grown.

Plesiosaurus is one genus of many that form the family Plesiosauridae.

In artistic depictions, many artists do not draw a distinction between these types of Plesiosaur.

Additional, much of the art depicting the Plesiosaurus is heavily influenced by cryptozoid mythology surrounding the Loch Ness Monster and other similar creatures.

Iguanodon

Iguanodon was one of the first dinosaurs to be identified by scientists.

The discovery was made when local workers unearthed fossil teeth in British forest.

They took their findings to the neighborhood doctor, who realized that they were not dealing with something ordinary.

Iguanodon is thought to have been a herbivore.

These giant dinosaurs are believed to have ran around on two legs in the lands now known as Europe, North Africa, North America, Australia, and Asia.

The dinosaurs had claws on their fingers which would have been useful for cutting plants or fighting off predators.

They roamed the Earth some 161.2 million to 99.6 million years ago, during the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous eras.

Ceratosaurus

Ceratosaurus was a predatory dinosaur that lived during the Jurassic period and inhabited parts of Africa, Europe and North America.

Its fossils have been found in locations such as Utah, Colorado and Lindi (Tanzania).

The creature existed from 161.2 million years ago to the Tithonian Age, lived in a terrestrial habitat, was a carnivore that reproduced by laying eggs, and had a body mass of approximately 670 kg.

So far, 16 different specimens of the creature have been found by paleontologists.

Oviraptor

The oviraptor was an omnivore that lived during the Cretaceous period and inhabited Asia.

Its fossils have been found in locations such as the Batken Region (Kyrgyzstan) and Ömnögovi (Mongolia).

Theropods were a group of dinosaurs that lived in a terrestrial habitat and were omnivores.

They reproduced by laying eggs and two different specimens have been found by paleontologists.

Sauropelta

Sauropelta was a large, herbivorous dinosaur that lived in North America during the Cretaceous period.

Its fossils have been found in Wyoming, Colorado and Wyoming.

The Aptian Age to 100.5 million years ago saw the existence of an herbivore that reproduced by laying eggs.

So far, paleontologists have found 32 different specimens of this creature.

Mosasaurus

Mosasaurus is one of the extinct water reptiles. Known as the lizard of the Meuse River or simply the Meuse Lizard, the creature was a carnivore and lived around 66 to 70 million years ago.

Experts believe that due to their barrel-shaped bodies and poor vision, these prehistoric fish dinosaurs avoided deep seas and stayed near the surface of the water.

The largest species of Mosasaurus is known to be as long as 17m!

It’s amazing to think that dinosaurs were once walking around on the same land as us!

For all we know, you might be standing on a huge fossil right now! In order to understand more about our planet, it is important we learn about all the creatures that used to roam around on it.

What’s more fascinating than dinosaurs?

And this article Discoverthedinosaurs.com will help you answering about Most Popular Dinosaurs

• Tyrannosaurus Rex
• Triceratops
• Brontosaurus
• Stegosaurus
• Velociraptor
• Diplodocus
• Brachiosaurus
• Pterodactyl
• Plesiosaurus
• Iguanodon
• Ceratosaurus