Dinosaurs

Find out about dinosaurs and what set them apart from other prehistoric reptiles.

Explore the age of the dinosaurs, from the time they first appeared to the mass extinction 66 million years ago.

A short overview of why dinosaurs (except birds) became extinct.

Even though dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, we know about them thanks to fossils. Watch our animation to find out how dinosaur fossils formed.

Watch four of our dinosaur experts battle it out for the top spot.

How well do you know your dinosaurs? Take our quiz to find out.

Take our quiz to find out which dinosaur you're most like - could it be the terrifying T. rex or the placid Plateosaurus?

Dinosaurs are the largest land animals to ever live. Titanosaurs were the biggest of them all. Explore how they were able to grow to such a size.

Get to know some of the largest dinosaurs to have ever walked the planet. 

The discovery was made three decades after the species was first uncovered as scientists try to understand more about how sauropods evolved in what is now eastern Asia.

How we depict extinct animals has changed significantly over time, as artists keep up with the latest scientific discoveries.

They aren't scientifically accurate, but the Crystal Palace dinosaurs have a special place in the history of palaeontology.

Find out how scientists and a palaeoartist created a life-size model of Psittacosaurus featuring real colour patterns, and what this revealed about the dinosaur's life.

Rather than keeping them permanently exposed, like crocodiles, a new study suggests the teeth of theropods would have been kept behind lips.

This may alter the recreation of some non-avian dinosaurs. 

These popular dinosaur reconstructions from the 1960s are no longer scientifically accurate. Can you spot the errors?

Find out how palaeoartist Robert Nicholls brought the Museum’s Stegosaurus specimen back to life.

Paul Barret comments on controversy over whether all dinosaurs were feathered or not.

T. rex forelimbs were tiny but surprisingly muscular - so how were they used? 

Movie star, established brawler and owner of a killer claw, Velociraptor has quite a reputation.

More than 250 titanosaur eggs have been uncovered in India, revealing more about the lives of some of the largest animals which ever lived.

Did dinosaurs have a softer side when it came to caring for their eggs and young?

It may have been a case of matter over mind for dinosaurs which lived around water.

Competition between ankylosaurs may be responsible for their iconic tail clubs.

As the world recovered from a volcanic extinction event, Lesothosaurus may have banded together to help ward off predators.

Spinosaurs were some of the only dinosaurs that spent much of their lives in water.

Within the world of dinosaurs Xu Xing is a globally important figure.

Discover a treasure trove of fossils just off Britain’s south coast.

Discover how palaeontologists find and dig up prehistoric reptiles.

What's the next best thing to studying prehistoric dinosaurs in the flesh?

Dr Susie Maidment shares what it's like to be a dinosaur researcher, how she got into this career and advice for budding palaeontologists.

Is it even possible in the first place?

Dinosaur bones aren't the only way we can learn about the ancient reptiles that once roamed around our planet.

Get to know the Museum scientists working on the latest dinosaur discoveries.

Scavengers could help to preserve the soft tissue of the ancient reptiles by removing flesh and fluid from the body shortly after death. 

It is notoriously difficult to sex a dinosaur.

This is the first 3D preserved embryo of a sauropod.

New scans reveal how dinosaur teeth developed. 

The earliest ancestors of birds looked noticeably different from the creatures familiar to us today, reflecting their dinosaur origins.

When did dinosaurs evolve, and what did the first dinosaurs look like?

The humble pigeon is a distant relative of the mighty T. rex.

A far greater variety of dinosaurs lived here than we realised.

Dinosaurs have a new family tree. Find out how it has changed and what the new tree reveals about dinosaurs' origins and evolution.

The tiny arms of Tyrannosaurus rex may bring ridicule, but a new dinosaur reveals they were part of a much larger trend.

Some dinosaurs, such as stegosaurs, may have needed to bask in the sun to keep their body temperature constant.

This dinosaur has a strange combination of body parts. Museum expert Prof Paul Barrett explains why.

Sixty-six million years ago dinosaurs had the ultimate bad day.

Watch our animation to find out.

Is a mosquito trapped in amber really the way to bring dinosaurs back from the dead? 

With the finding yet to be published in a scientific journal, debate continues over whether this could be the case. 

Many groups of dinosaurs were doing rather well right up until the end. 

Protathlitis cinctorrensis is the latest to be discovered in Spain, adding to the evidence that spinosaurs first evolved in Europe.

The isolated teeth were identified using machine learning models, and could represent some of the earliest relatives of birds ever discovered.

A serendipitous discovery revealed that a beautiful mineral has been hiding a secret for over 170 years.

A fossil found in northern Britain is revealing insights into the behaviour of a 166-million-year-old carnivorous dinosaur.

The largest meat-eating dinosaur ever found in Europe.

It adds to the understanding of how these curious dinosaurs evolved and spread around the world.

Bashanosaurus primitivus adds to evidence the group of dinosaurs may have originated in Asia.

Scientists believe there could be many as yet unknown fossils to be uncovered in the region.

The neck of a diplodocid shows evidence of a disease that still affects birds today.

The first large raptor to ever be discovered in the UK has been described as a new species. 

A series of tracks on a public beach point to the presence of large, long-necked dinosaurs in Wales over 200 million years ago. 

The dinosaur was much chunkier than any other sauropod.

A new species of dinosaur has been discovered from the Isle of Wight after a case of mistaken identity.

The oldest-known meat-eating dinosaur discovered in the UK has been named in honour of trailblazing Museum scientist Angela Milner, who passed away in August 2021.

Spicomellus afer is the oldest ankylosaur ever discovered. 

For over 100 years palaeontologists thought this dinosaur didn't exist.

Although spinosaurs were named in 1915, little was known about these giants until a 31-centimetre-long claw was discovered in the UK in 1983.

What were the largest dinosaurs in Britain 200-145 million years ago? And why were they so big?

Nopcsa was ahead of his time, publishing many creative scientific theories on dinosaurs and other reptiles. He was also a spy and a would-be king.

Find out about dinosaur discoveries from around the world with Museum expert Prof Paul Barrett.

Our latest attraction stands tall over the new gardens.

A usually inaccessible dinosaur will be available to researchers around the world.

Get a behind-the-scenes look at the scientific examination of the world's most complete Stegosaurus specimen.

Discover how sparkling roadside rocks paved the way for everything we know about Iguanodon.

Discover how Iguanodon's true identity was finally revealed.

Discover Dacentrurus - one of the first stegosaur fossils to be found - which hides in plain sight in the Museum.

Dinosaur researcher Prof Paul Barrett gives the lowdown on the most complete Stegosaurus ever found.

Dinosaur visualisation expert Dr Charlotte Brassey asks some personal questions about the new specimen’s weight.

View a palaeoartist’s reconstruction of the Museum's latest star exhibit.

Watch a time-lapse video of the Museum's new Stegosaurus skeleton being put together.

The story of Dippy the Diplodocus stretches back more than 100 years. Take a look at some memorable moments in pictures.

Discover Dippy's story, from the unearthing of the first Diplodocus bones to the famous cast's time on display at the Museum.

Cleaning Dippy the dinosaur takes more than a quick flick with a duster. Exhibition specialist Helen Walker talks us through it.

Follow these simple origami instructions to bring back this famous dinosaur in paper form.

These unusual biscuits make it look like dinosaurs stomped through your kitchen.

If you're a fan of Dippy the dinosaur, this activity is for you!

This scavenger hunt will take you and your family back to the time of the dinosaurs.

Learn how to create a cartoon T. rex. Plus find out how palaeoartists draw dinosaurs.

It's time for this baby dinosaur to break out of its shell.

Explore the age of the dinosaurs, from the time they first appeared to the mass extinction 66 million years ago.

The Cretaceous Period is famous for ending with a massive asteroid impact, but what was our planet like in the millions of years before that?

What was the ocean like when dinosaurs roamed the Earth?

This animal is Anhanguera, a flying reptile that lived with the dinosaurs. Have a look at how it might have flown.

The world's first flying vertebrates may also have been some of the biggest show-offs.

The insects were frozen in time after being caught in amber, revealing rare evidence of how dinosaurs and insects interacted.