Dinosaur

"Dinosaur" is the common name for members of the clade Dinosauria, traditionally defined by the most recent common ancestor of Megalosaurus and Iguanodon. Though modern birds are surviving examples of the group, the word "dinosaur" is typically used in reference to the extinct, often large and/or intimidating non-avian dinosaurs that appeared in the Late Triassic and died out approx. 66 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous.

Dinosaurs in The Land Before Time

See also: List of species in The Land Before Time

The Land Before Time, being a franchise set in the Mesozoic Era, features a surplus of dinosaurs; four of the five main characters of the franchise, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky and Spike, are an Apatosaurus, a Triceratops, a duck-billed hadrosaur and a Stegosaurus respectively - Petrie, a Pteranodon, is a pterosaur, and not a dinosaur.

Though most creatures in The Land Before Time are not referred to with names used by modern humans - Apatosaurus are referred to as "longnecks" and Stegosaurus are "spiketails", for instance - the word "dinosaur" is used by the characters in the series to refer to dinosaurs (and pterosaurs, in some instances). Examples of the word "dinosaur" being used by characters include in The Land Before Time IV: Journey through the Mists, when the Old One states that some dinosaurs recover from Grandpa Longneck's illness, while others do not, and in The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock, wherein a legendary Diplodocus is consistently referred to as "the Lone Dinosaur".