Theropoda


 * Coelophysoidea
 * Carnosauria
 * Ceratosauria
 * Tetanurae
 * Coelurosauroidea

The predatory Order of the carnivorous Dinosaurs, Theropoda included all flesh-eating Dinosaurs from their time on Earth, ranging from the Dromaesaurs (creatures closely related to, and indeed larger than the Velociraptor) to the mightiest of the Carnivores of the Cretaceous – like Tyrannosaurs, Giganotosaurus, Acrocanthosaurus and the largest known of them all, Spinosaurus. Formidable as hunters, and up to the size of a double-decker bus and more, they evolved the very largest LAND Carnivores that have ever lived. These animals could be seen as the most intelligent of the Dinosaurs (at least some species of them) and yet also the most savage. Whilst some heavily armoured herbivorous Dinosaurs had evolved to defend against the Theropod Dinosaurs with ease, and some aggression, the violent, and as a result often short lives of the rough-and-tumbles carnivorous Dinosaurs, were the ones who deserve the title. Remains of Allosaurus, a highly successful Late Jurassic Theropod Dinosaur (of the suborder Carnosauria) have been excavated, and reveal a very short, 10-15 year lifespan in their bones, and detail many injuries and possible incidents that created them. However successful the group was in their time, individual animals, had paltry life-expectancies, when compared with the possible centenarian Herbivorous Dinosaurs. These Dinosaurs, were the longest lasting ( on the whole) family of Dinosaurs that had ever lived, becoming extinct along with all other Dinosaurs, at the end of the Late Cretaceous ( 65 million years ago) Having first appeared in the Mid-Triassic Period – and appearing as the first True-Dinosaurs – the Theropod Dinosaurs lasted from 235/240-65 million years ( by comparison, the Stegosaurid Dinosaurs only appeared in the Early Jurassic, around 190 million years ago, and disappeared at the end Early Cretaceous, around 120 million years ago) What is very interesting about the meat-eating Dinosaurs, is that, despite portrayed as common as muck in Hollywood Films, in fact, they made up only 5% of the total number of Dinosaurs living in any one area, at any time.