When they weren’t marking their territories, fighting rivals and tending to their eggs, dinosaurs would consume a large amount of food. What they ate would depend on their size, activity levels, subspecies and whether they were carnivores, herbivores or omnivores, with some of the bigger dinosaurs spending most of their waking hours looking for their next meal. The life of a dinosaur truly is fascinating to study. So without further ado, let’s take a look at a dinosaur’s favourite food.

Plants 

Believe it or not, herbivorous dinosaurs greatly outnumbered meat-eaters in prehistoric times. Plant-eating dinosaurs were found in groups including sauropods, ornithischians and some theropods. This meant that some of the most well-known herbivorous dinosaurs such as the Triceratops, Stegosaurus and Brachiosaurus would munch on a wide range of plants, with ferns, conifers, horsetail rushes, cycads and mosses being firm favourites. Some dinosaurs also consumed twigs and stones, with many experts believing that herbivores ate stones to help grind down the plants swirling around in their tummies - a bit like a pestle and mortar.

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Meat

While some dinosaurs were busy eating their greens, others were on the lookout for meat. These carnivorous dinosaurs were fearsome predators, known widely for their sharp teeth, powerful jaws and predatory behaviour. Some of the most well-known carnivorous dinos include the formidable T-Rex, Velociraptor and Spinosaurus.

A carnivore’s menu would include other animals such as lizards, turtles, eggs and early mammals. They also hunted other dinosaurs and even scavenged dead creatures. Essentially, any meat was seen as good meat, with fish and crustaceans even falling victim to these unforgiving predators. 

Rotting Wood 

Rotting wood might not sound like the most appetising thing a dinosaur could eat, but fossilised droppings show how some prehistoric creatures deliberately ate rotting wood. While the wood itself is not nutritious in any way, decomposing wood would have contained fungi, decomposed wood materials and small creatures that would have provided nutrients.

It was really important for dinosaurs to find a food source wherever they could to keep their energy and health intact, and sometimes rotting wood would do the trick - who knew walking with dinosaurs could be so fascinating?

A Bit of Everything

Omnivores, such as the Oviraptor, ate a mixed diet, eating both plants and meat. Their food choices included small insects, plants (shrubs, small trees, fruit, seeds), dinosaur eggs, small mammals and lizards and in some cases, other small dinosaurs.

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