What is the difference between a dinosaur and a reptile

Furthermore, a comparison is presented between dinosaurs and reptiles, so that the differences would be more meaningful to the reader. Dinosaurs were the largest animals ever known to live on the Earth according to the fossilised remnants.

They were thriving on the Earth from their existence, before million years, until their extinction 65 million years ago. In other words, the dinosaurs were the most dominant animals on the Earth between late Triassic and end of Cretaceous periods, which expanded about million years.

Dinosaurs were enormous animals with four feet, but they were upright reptiles walked using the forelimbs. They were a vastly diversified group of reptiles that provide fossilised evidences of about described species in more than different genera.

The size variations were highly considerable as some are estimated to be only grams while the most dinosaurs were weighing between and 1, kilograms. Also, another major difference between dinosaurs and reptiles is that dinosaurs lived on the land while reptiles live in both land and water. Furthermore, one other difference between dinosaurs and reptiles is that most dinosaurs are bipeds with upright posture and some are quadrupedal while most reptiles are tetrapods and some do not develop limbs.

Another difference between dinosaurs and reptiles is that dinosaurs have a hole in their hip socket, permitting upright stance, while reptiles do not develop a hole in the hip socket. Besides, the thigh bones of dinosaurs are horizontal while the thigh bones of reptiles are parallel to the ground. Dinosaurs have significantly long lower arms when compared to their upper arms while reptiles have lower and upper arms in similar length.

Hence, this is another difference between dinosaurs and reptiles. Furthermore, dinosaurs can run faster than other reptiles of the same size while reptiles walk and run with a side-to-side motion. Dinosaurs are warm-blooded or partially warm-blooded while reptiles are cold-blooded animals.

Dinosaurs are an extinct group of reptiles who maintained an upright posture. The presence of a hole in their hip socket permits this posture. Therefore, they had longer lower limbs as well. In comparison, reptiles are a diverse group of animals that live in both land and water. None of these other extinct groups shared the characteristic upright stance of dinosaurs. Test how well you know your dinosaurs: take our quiz.

Main characteristics dinosaurs share: They had an upright stance, with legs perpendicular to their body. This is the main feature that sets dinosaurs apart from other reptiles. Like other reptiles, they laid eggs. With the exception of some birds, for example penguins, dinosaurs lived on land, not in the sea.

Their skull had a hole between the eye socket and nostril. This feature is shared by all archosaurs. Dinosaurs also had two holes behind the eye socket.

Large, strong jaw muscles went through the holes to attach directly to the top of the skull. As a result, the jaws were able to open wide and clamp down with more force. Find out what the world was like during the time of the dinosaurs. Evolution Feature Prehistoric Dinosaurs. Dino Directory Explore more than dinosaurs by name, shape or when and where they lived. Discover dinosaurs Find out what Museum scientists are revealing about how dinosaurs looked, lived and behaved. Dig up dino facts.

Animals with the same ancestors are grouped together. For example, we could go back millions of years ago and find the very first animal with reptilian characteristics. Of course, animals with the same ancestor are likely to share many of the same characteristics, so many traditional classification definitions still apply. About million years ago, a group of amphibians became less reliant on water. They gained the ability to produce eggs with shells, and their tough skin protected them from drying out when moving around on land.

This meant that they could live in a wider variety of habitats, away from water. The reptiles, on the other hand, thrived.