How do you classify a dinosaur?

To figure out how many different "kinds" of something there are, first we have to come up with some kind of classification system to set some ground rules and have a way of distinguishing one organism from another. The way scientists classify organisms, such as animals (which as we recall, includes dinosaurs) is called (big word alert) taxonomy. This is done by making a series of comparisons between all organisms and then putting them into groups. (There is also another method which we will get into in a later topic.)

The system, which goes from greatest (largest amount of organisms) to smallest (down to a single organism) has seven major levels. They are:

Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species

OK. I promised easy terms, and I'm going to stick to that promise. To explain how taxonomy works, we're going to use the trusty family pet, Dino, an Old English Sheep dog.

Now, Dino is an animal, so he belongs to the Animalia Kingdom.

Dino also has a vertebrate column, meaning he has a solid backbone with a spinal column. This puts Dino in the Chordata (meaning, they have a spinal column with a nerve running down the inside) Phylum.

And, because Dino is covered in hair (and fur) and was fed by it's mom when it was a pup, make him the Mammalia Class.

I'm sure Dino would rather have a steak for dinner than, say, broccoli, so that would put him in the Carnivora Order.

There are some other aspects about him such as sharp claws and canine teeth, that put him in the Canidae Family, where all dogs, wolves, and foxes belong.

This is further broken down into the Canis Genus. Which is made up of foxes and dogs.

And the "family" dog is a member of the "familiaris" Species.

Putting Tyrannosaurus rex through this classification system, it would look like this:

KINGDOM: Animalia

PHYLUM: Chordata

CLASS: Archosauria

ORDER: Saurischia

FAMILY: Tyrannosauroidea

GENUS: Tyrannosaurus


When people hear dinosaur names, they are usually hearing the genus name. Sometimes, the genus followed by the species name. For instance, one of the most famous of all dinosaurs is Tyrannosaurus rex. Tyrannosaurus being the genus and rex being the species. And, incidentally, the way I have written it is the scientifically correct way to write an organism's name, uppercase genus, lowercase species, both italicized.

Now that we know how to classify them, lets take a look at the various different kinds there are.

Next-What Kinds.