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🥬 Plant-Eaters and Meat-Eaters

Some dinosaurs munched leaves all day, and others hunted for meat. Learn how their teeth, bodies, and habits show us what each dinosaur ate.

lessons

~15 min

to learn

🔬 Science

subject

Ages 6–12

level

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What you’ll learn

What's for Dinner?Understand that dinosaurs were either plant-eaters or meat-eaters and compare the two.Dinosaurs were either plant-eaters (herbivores) or meat-eaters (carnivores). Most were plant-eaters. Their diet shaped their teeth, bodies, and how they moved, making the two groups very different.
The Plant-EatersDescribe plant-eating dinosaurs and recognize flat teeth as a clue to a plant diet.Most dinosaurs were plant-eaters, like Triceratops and the long-necked sauropods. They had flat or leaf-shaped teeth, sometimes hundreds of them, made for grinding tough plants all day.
The Meat-EatersDescribe meat-eating dinosaurs, recognize sharp teeth as a clue, and sort dinosaurs by diet.Meat-eaters like Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor ate other animals. They had sharp, pointed teeth with jagged edges for slicing meat. By looking at a dinosaur's teeth, we can tell whether it ate plants or meat.

Questions this course answers

What did plant-eating dinosaurs eat?

Plant-eating dinosaurs, or herbivores, ate leaves, ferns, and other plants.

Were there more plant-eaters or more meat-eaters?

Most dinosaurs were plant-eaters, so there were many more of them than meat-eaters.

What kind of teeth did plant-eaters have?

Plant-eaters had flat or leaf-shaped teeth for grinding and snipping plants.

What kind of teeth did meat-eaters have?

Meat-eaters had sharp, pointed teeth with jagged edges for slicing meat.

Which of these was a meat-eater?

Tyrannosaurus was a meat-eater with big sharp teeth, while the others ate plants.

How can you tell what a dinosaur ate?

A dinosaur's teeth are a big clue: flat teeth mean plants, sharp teeth mean meat.

Grounded in trusted sources

Natural History Museum (London)
Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
Britannica Kids

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

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