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During the early decades of dinosaur discoveries, little thought was given to their evolutionary ancestry. Not only were the few specimens known unlike any living animal, but they were so different from any other reptiles that it was difficult to discern much about their relationships. Early on it was recognized that, as a group, dinosaurs appear to be most closely allied to crocodilians, though T.H. Huxley had proposed in the 1860s that dinosaurs and birds must have had a very close common ancestor in the distant past. Three anatomic features—socketed teeth, a skull with two large holes (diapsid), and another hole in the lower jaw—are present in both crocodiles and dinosaurs. The earliest crocodilians occurred nearly simultaneously with the first known dinosaurs, so neither could have given rise to the other. It was long thought that the most likely ancestry of dinosaurs could be found within a poorly understood group of Triassic reptiles termed thecodontians (“socket-toothed reptiles”). Today it is recognized that “thecodontian” is simply a name for the basal, or most primitive, members of the archosaurs (“ruling reptiles”), a group that is distinguished by the three anatomic features mentioned above and that includes dinosaurs, pterosaurs (flying reptiles), crocodiles, and their extinct relatives.

An early candidate for the ancestor of dinosaurs was a small basal archosaur from the Early Triassic Epoch (252.2 million to 247.2 million years ago) of South Africa called Euparkeria. New discoveries suggest creatures that are even more dinosaur-like from the Middle Triassic (247.2 million to 237 million years ago) and from an early portion of the Late Triassic (237 million to 201.3 million years ago) of South America; these include Lagerpeton, Lagosuchus, Pseudolagosuchus, and Lewisuchus. Other forms, such as Nyasasaurus and Asilisaurus, date from the Middle Triassic of East Africa; Nyasasaurus is considered by some to be the oldest known member of Dinosauria. Other South American forms such as Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus are particularly dinosaurian in appearance and are sometimes considered dinosaurs.

The earliest appearance of “true dinosaurs” is almost impossible to pinpoint, since it can never be known with certainty whether the very first (or last) specimen of any kind of organism has been found. The succession of deposits containing fossils is discontinuous and contains many gaps; even within these deposits, the fossil record of dinosaurs and other creatures contained within is far from complete. Further complicating matters is that evolution from ancestral to descendant form is usually a stepwise process. Consequently, as more and more gaps are filled between the first dinosaurs and other archosaurs, the number of features distinguishing them becomes smaller and smaller. Currently, paleontologists define dinosaurs as Triceratops (representing Ornithischia), birds (the most recent representatives of the Saurischia), and all the descendants of their most recent common ancestor. That common ancestor apparently had a suite of features not present in other dinosaur relatives, including the loss of the prefrontal bone above the eye, a long deltopectoral crest on the humerus, three or fewer joints on the fourth finger of the hand, three or more hip vertebrae, a fully open hip socket, and a cnemial crest on the shin bone (tibia). These features were passed on and modified in the descendants of the first dinosaurs. Compared with most of their contemporaries, dinosaurs had an improved stance and posture with a resulting improved gait and, in several independent lineages, an overall increase in size. They also were more efficient at gathering food and processing it and apparently had higher metabolic rates and cardiovascular nourishment. All these trends, individually or in concert, probably contributed to the collective success of dinosaurs, which resulted in their dominance among the terrestrial animals of the Mesozoic.

Modern studies

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During the first century or more of dinosaur awareness, workers in the field more or less concentrated on the search for new specimens and new types. Their discoveries then required detailed description and analysis, followed by comparisons with other known dinosaurs in order to classify the new finds and develop hypotheses about evolutionary relationships. These pursuits continue, but newer methods of exploration and analysis have been adopted. Emphasis has shifted from purely descriptive procedures to analyses of relationships by using the methods of cladistics, which dispenses with the traditional taxonomic hierarchy in favour of “phylogenetic trees” that are more explicit about evolutionary relationships. Phylogenetic analyses also help us to understand how certain features evolved in groups of dinosaurs and give us insight into their possible functions. For example, in the evolution of horned dinosaurs (ceratopsians), it can be seen that the beak evolved first, followed by the frill, and finally the nose and eye horns, which were differently developed in different groups. The hypothesis that the frill was widely used in defense by ceratopsians such as Protoceratops can thus be tested phylogenetically. On this basis, the idea is now generally rejected because the frill was basically just an open rim of bone in nearly all ceratopsians except Triceratops, which is often pictured charging like a rhinoceros.

Functional anatomic studies extensively use analogous traits of present-day animals that, along with both mechanical and theoretical models, make it possible to visualize certain aspects of extinct animals. For example, estimates of normal walking and maximum running speeds can be calculated on the basis of the analysis of trackways, which can then be combined with biomechanical examination of the legs and joints and reconstruction of limb musculature. Similar methods have been applied to jaw mechanisms and tooth wear patterns to obtain a better understanding of feeding habits and capabilities.

Britannica Quiz

Deadliest Animals Quiz

The soft parts of dinosaurs are only imperfectly known. Original colours and patterns cannot be known, but skin textures have occasionally been preserved. Most show a knobby or pebbly surface rather than a scaly texture as in most living reptiles. Impressions of internal organs are rarely preserved, but, increasingly, records of filaments and feathers have been found on some dinosaurs. The discovery of Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus, an early ornithischian dinosaur whose remains show evidence of featherlike structures on its limbs, suggests that feathers may even have been widespread among the dinosaurs. Gastroliths (“stomach stones”) used for processing food in the gizzard have been recovered from a variety of dinosaurs.