Dinosaurs · Small ornithischian

Heterodontosaurus

Say it HET-er-oh-DON’T-oh-sore-us. The name means ‘different-teeth lizard’.

Heterodontosaurus beside a person 1.75 m tall. Ticks mark every metre.Body shape drawn for this site, showing the general build of small ornithischians

Length: 1.2 m
Diet: Plant-eater
When: Early Jurassicabout 205 million years ago
Fossils found in: Lesotho, South Africa
Named by: Crompton and Charig (1962)
Family tree: Dinosauria › Ornithischia › Neornithischia › Cerapoda › Heterodontosauridae

Where Heterodontosaurus sits in the age of dinosaurs.Periods from the ICS chart; dinosaur dates from the Natural History Museum

Small ornithischians. Small early bird-hipped plant-eaters. See all 7

Lived at the same time

Coelophysis · same country
Lesothosaurus · same country
Lycorhinus · same country
Massospondylus · same country
Jingshanosaurus
Kotasaurus
Liliensternus
Scelidosaurus

Other small ornithischians

Lycorhinus Late Triassic
Lesothosaurus Early Jurassic
Agilisaurus Late Jurassic
Othnielia Late Jurassic
Enigmacursor Late Jurassic
Hypsilophodon Early Cretaceous

Source: Heterodontosaurus in the Natural History Museum Dino Directory, read 12 November 2026. Sizes are the museum's estimates for a typical adult. "Lived at the same time" lists dinosaurs whose dates overlap, which does not always mean they met.