Watch a herd of dinosaurs move across a flat prehistoric landscape drawn entirely in Canvas2D. Herbivores graze in herds for safety while carnivores hunt the nearest straggler — predator-prey dynamics from 65 million years ago, with a live numeric panel tracking the herd.
Dinosaur herding follows the same Boids-style flocking rules used by modern birds and fish. Predators target the nearest isolated individual, so herding provides safety in numbers — the same evolutionary pressure seen across hundreds of species today. The Predator drive slider directly scales how aggressively carnivores accelerate toward prey.
Click to drop food, add herbivores or carnivores with the buttons, and watch the live panel update population, herbivore/predator split, eggs collected and average herd speed. Use the sliders to adjust movement speed, dinosaur size and predator drive.
Trackway fossils from the Jurassic Period show dinosaurs moving in coordinated herds, with juveniles protected in the centre — the same protective strategy found in almost every modern herd animal.