Define dinosaurs by ancestry - Dinosaurs | Zoonk

Define dinosaurs by ancestry - Dinosaurs | Zoonk

Define dinosaurs by ancestry

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A tight educational cladogram showing a highlighted branch labeled “Dinosauria” with Triceratops, sauropod, theropod, and bird tips on it, while a large gray “giant extinct reptile” silhouette sits on a separate unhighlighted branch outside.

Dinosauria is a branch

A dinosaur is not “any giant extinct reptile.” In science, Dinosauria is a family-tree group: an animal belongs if it sits on the dinosaur branch of the tree of life.