Plant-Eaters vs Meat-Eaters
Sort dinosaurs into plant-eaters (herbivores) and meat-eaters (carnivores) by looking at clues like tooth shape: flat teeth for plants, sharp teeth for meat
What a learner can do afterwards
- Sort a set of dinosaur pictures or models into herbivore and carnivore groups
- Explain that sharp pointed teeth are for tearing meat and flat teeth are for grinding plants
- Give an example of one herbivore and one carnivore dinosaur
1 · Read
Some dinosaurs ate plants. Some dinosaurs ate meat. You can tell which is which by looking at their teeth.
Flat teeth are for grinding plants. Sharp, pointy teeth are for tearing meat. Teeth match the food a dinosaur ate.
Triceratops had flat teeth. It munched on plants all day. Tyrannosaurus rex had sharp teeth. It tore into meat.
Look at the teeth first. Flat means plant-eater. Sharp and pointy means meat-eater.
Flat teeth grind plants, sharp teeth tear meat.
More to read
What's for Dinner?
Teeth are clues. Sharp pointy teeth chop and tear meat. Flat wide teeth grind up leaves. You can sort animals by looking at their teeth. Pointy teeth mean meat eater. Flat teeth mean plant eater. Scientists do the same with dinosaur teeth, even teeth from animals that lived long ago.
Activity: How much energy does a carnivore need to survive?
Meat eaters need lots of food to keep their big bodies going. A meat eating dinosaur like T. rex hunted other animals. A plant eater like Stegosaurus munched leaves all day. Both needed the right food to live and grow. Meat eaters get energy from meat. Plant eaters get energy from plants.
Do Dinosaurs Still Exist? Meet Their Direct Descendants
Dinosaurs lived long ago, but some of their family is still here. Birds come from small meat eating dinosaurs. So when you see a bird eat, you watch a tiny cousin of T. rex. Plant eating dinosaurs like Stegosaurus are gone, yet their bones tell us what they ate. Bones and teeth keep the story safe for us to find.
Explore more
2 · Watch
En anglaisTake it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
Optional connections
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Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.