What is the first dinosaur?

Answer 1

The first Dinosaurs were small Therapods (fast carnivorous/meat- eating Dinosaurs). Until recently the oldest Dinosaur known was the Eoraptor. Unlike many other Therapods it had five digits (fingers). Through time Therapods gradually lost digits. But there was one thing about its hand- two of the fingers were stubby while the three others were perfect for grasping. Herresaurus was the second oldest Dinosaur known until recently. It also had five digits and two stubby ones. This hunter was no small Dinosaur- it was 10 ft long! Scientists think it ate Mammals and small Theraspids. Eoraptor probaly only ate Mammals and Insects. Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus are part of the earliest group of Dinosaurs- Herrerasaurs. It was not long until a new group of Therapods appeared. These were the Ceratosaurs. They had S- shaped necks and hollow bones. One of the first Ceratosaurs was Coelophysis. It was a small and agile hunter. It was named for its hollow bones and once a Coelophysis fossil was found in space! Now lets move on to the herbivores (plant- eaters). The herbivorous Dinosaurs evolved from Therapods. The earliest herbivorous Dinosaurs were the Prosaurapods which later gave rise to the Saurapods (huge long- necked Dinosaurs). The Prosaurapods were armed with a pair of thumb claws. It is possible that some Prosaurapods were omnivores (animals that eat both plants and meat) and used these thumb claws to take down their prey. Some Prosaurapods also had fangs like the Therapods (Prosaurapods were more closely related to the Therapods then other herbivorous Dinosaurs). One of these Prosaurapods was Riojasaurus. Riojasaurus was one of the largest Prosaurapods (it grew up to 30- 36 ft long). It also belonged to the group of the largest Prosaurapods to ever walk the Earth- the Melanorosaurids. Not all Prosaurapods were huge. Some were small like Anchisaurus which was only 3 meters tall on its hind legs. And some were medium sized like Plateosaurus. Plateosaurus was 27.5 meters long. Now we can move on to the smaller herbivorous Dinosaurs- Ornithschians. The Ornithschian group was divided into 3 groups- Marginocephalians (the horned and bone- headed Dinosaurs), Thyreophorans (the armoured and spiked/plated Dinosaurs), and finally, the Ornithopods. The Ornithopods were the first Ornithschians. They came in all shapes and sizes- some were small, some were huge, some were known as the Dinosaur Gazelles, some were slow, and some were even partly covered in protofeathers (a feather- like substance that warmed up the bodies of Dinosaurs). Pisanosaurus was one of the first Dinosaurs. Only partial fossils of this small Dinosaur have been found in Argentina. Then we have Lesothosaurus which will be the only other Ornithopod I'll tell about in this answer. Lesothosaurus was first found in Lesotho, Africa. This small Dinosaur was only 3 ft long like Pisanosaurus and was a fast runner. These are some facts about the first Dinosaurs. Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Eoraptor was the first dinosaur.

Answer 3

T-rex