what animal is the largest living relative to the dinosaur?

Answer 1

I guess it would be the Ostrich.

They (All birds) descended from a line of dinosaurs called the Archosauria which included such luminaries as T-rex and velociraptors.

In fact, in formal cladistics (the science of classification) birds simply ARE dinosaurs -prehistoric beasts like Tyrannosaurus rex are referred to as 'non-avian dinosaurs' to distinguish them from our modern feathered friends.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/archosauria.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archosauria
http://www.pbs.org/lifeofbirds/evolution/index.html
http://hometown.aol.com/darwinpage/dinobirds.htm

**I just read that crocodiles and alligators are thought to belong to the same group, that would make the largest living 'dinosaur' a saltwater crocodile. Largest recorded specimen was 8.6 metres (28.2 feet) long - that guy could have made a snack of any ostrich that got too close!**

Answer 2

Ostrich, the largest living bird/dinosaur. The answer above me is the most correct and complete.

Folks. No living reptile, be it a crocodile, komodo dragon, or what have you, NO living reptile is a close relative of the dinosaur group. Dinosaur is a huge varied family of animals. Like the mammalia which includes dolphins, cats, and us. Big varied family. The dinosaur family had it origins in a group of advanced reptiles called the archosaurs. The pterosaurs and crocodilians also branched off from this group (if I remember correctly) but pterosaurs and crocodilians are not dinosaurs. They simply share a common ancestor.

Dinosaurs were their own group of animals. They were not lizards. I'd go as far to say that based on anatomy, they sufficiently evolved away from ancestral forms to not be correctly labeled as reptiles either. Dinosaurs were their own large, varied, family of animals, and they are still with us today in the form of the modern dinosaur, aka, the bird.

Answer 3

As birds are direct descents of dinosaurs* then it would be the ostrich. The largest and closest non-avian relative is the salt water crocodile.



*Though I have heard of another hypothesis in which some dinosaurs (eg Velociraptor), are descendants of early birds. Which would make those species technically birds, given their other similar features. I don't know how much weight this hypothesis currently holds.

Answer 4

It depends on where you lie on therioes of Dinosaur evolution. Crocidoles were around the same time as the Dinosaurs, so if you believe that Dinosaurs completely died out then it is probably the Crocidile.
If on the other hand you believe that they evolved into something else then it couldn't have been a Crocidile, for they already exsisted. Theres is then the Bird theory; that Dinosaurs were an early form of Bird, then it would be the Ostrich.
I like the Bird theory it has some good science about it, but the truth is only some Dinosaurs evolved into birds, while others were completely wiped out.

Answer 5

Leviathan and lani have it right. The only surviving descendants of dinosaurs are birds. A species of maniraptoran (early feathered dinosaurs) was ancestral to enantiornithians (half bird-half dino-example Archaeopteryx) and a species of enantiornithian was ancestral to ornithurians (proto birds--example Hesperornis) and a species of ornithurian was ancestral to neornithes (modern birds).

A different species of maniraptoran gave rise to other feathered dinosaurs such as the velociraptors and tyrannosaurids, but these theropods are not directly in the lineage of birds.

And since ostrich are the largest living bird, they are the largest living relative of dinosaurs.

Answer 6

Based on current theories (still over debates) that birds evolved from avian-dinosaurs, then an "OSTRICH" can be the bet as the largest living relative to the dinosaur.

Basing the theory that crocodiles are today's living dinosaurs, then the "SALTWATER CROCODILE" will qualify as the largest.

(Shapewise, we can think of giraffes,hippopotamus and rhinoceros which shapes have close resemblances to the dinosaurs. But as these three are mammals and largely too far different from reptiles, then the probability will be dropped and disqualify them from the list.)

Answer 7

The corocodile and komodo dragons are the largest living relatives of the dinasour, the reason being that they are reptiles just as dinasours were.

Answer 8

everybody...you are wrong
it's birds
they evolved from the t-rex. it's a proven fact

Answer 9

crocodiles

Answer 10

hippos, rhinos, giraffes