List of families in The Land Before Time

A list of parents, foster parents, relatives and adoptees.

Bron

Bron is an Apatosaurus, the father of Littlefoot. He was separated from Littlefoot, the kid's mother, and Grandpa and Grandma Longneck shortly before Littlefoot's birth. Until The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration, Bron was unsure of his wife and son's fates. Bron also has an adopted son named Shorty. Bron has red eye's just like his son Littlefoot, Mama Longneck, and both of Littlefoot's Grandparent's.

Bron is voiced by Kiefer Sutherland in The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration and Cam Clarke in the TV series.

In Part X, Littlefoot and his grandparents are moved by a sudden urge to migrate to an unknown place; when they arrive, they find hundreds of other longnecks. One of them was Bron, who recognizes Grandpa Longneck. Littlefoot meets his father for the first time. Littlefoot thought Bron had abandoned him and his mother, and thus he retreated into seclusion. Bron caught up with him, and explains how they had become separated. Littlefoot accepts this and the two BOND, much to the displeasure of Shorty, Littlefoot's foster brother. Shorty and Littlefoot made amends when they were forced to work together to save themselves from attacking Sharpteeth. Despite the brevity of their acquaintance, Littlefoot and Bron know where both of them belong and depart, promising each other they would see each other again.

Bron has since appeared in the TV series episode "The Big Longneck Test", although he mentions that he has visited Littlefoot a few times before this.

Cera's Siblings

Topsy, Cera's belligerent father, and his first wife were seen to have several children on at least two occasions. The first time can only be inferred; the existence of Dinah and Dana--Cera's niece and nephew and Topsy's grandchildren-- implies that Topsy and his wife had to have had at least one son or daughter before Cera's egg Laying. The fate thereof remains unknown.

Cera is seen to have had nestmate siblings at her hatching; they seem to be mostly sisters. They, along with their mother, have mostly disappeared from the film series and are likely dead, having died on the way to the Great Valley. Two of them, however, appear in volume three. She now has a half sister, Tricia, due to her stepmother Tria.

Chomper's Parents

These figures have only appeared in The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure and The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island. They are both green in color, but the mother and father are distinguished by exact shade, with the father being much darker (this may reflect a gender difference). Although they are ferocious predators like the other Sharpteeth, they are also devoted parents. It is suggested in the series that they requested Ruby as some sort of babysitter for Chomper. Both Ruby and Chomper were separated from their families by Red Claw and his minions; so far they have yet to reunite. They also stand as the only adult Sharpteeth who have not directly tried to injure the protagonists in any way.

Dinah and Dana

Dinah and Dana are infant Triceratops twins. They are Cera's niece and nephew. They first appeared in The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock and have not been seen in the further sequels. They speak in a baby-talk that is unintelligible to the impatient Cera, but intelligible to others including their grandfather Topsy.

Ducky and Spike's Father

He is rarely seen but has appeared now and again, for example in the background The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze. It is sometimes asked whether this is due to how Ducky's original voice actress, Judith Barsi, was murdered by her own father, according to Internet Movie Database.

Ducky and Spike's Mother

Known as Mama Swimmer by fans, Ducky and Spike's mother is a Parasaurolophus and has appeared in most of the 12 movies that have debuted so far. She is blind to race, as seen in her inter-racial/species adoption of Spike, a Stegosaurus. She loves all her children and is very attentive. She is popular among Littlefoot and his friends for these reasons and is treated with respect by Littlefoot and his friends, as well as the adults in the Great Valley. She occasionally has doubts on how to raise Spike, whether in keeping with her own values or with those of his racial heritage. This was seen in The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze when a stegosaur herd met and befriended Spike. She let him go with the herd to learn "his kind's" ways; however when Spike fell through ice it was she who rescued her grateful son.

This protective attitude is scientifically accurate, as at least some hadrosaurids such as Maiasaura, or "good mother lizard," are believed to have been attentive parents. Curiously, unlike other young dinosaurs in the film, her daughter, Ducky, is shown as being able to walk and even talk soon after hatching, while the evidence for hadrosaur parental care rests in the fact that young were unable to care for themselves.

Ducky and Spike's Brothers and Sisters

There are at least 14 young swimmers (male and female). Although they look much like Ducky, they lack her sense of adventure, preferring to stay at home with their Mother. Ever since Ducky introduced them to "our new brother, Spike" at the close of the first film, all the swimmers have happily accepted him as part of the family, even if they do not understand him as well as Ducky does. The total 14 came in two clutches, as in the first film; Ducky's nest contained AbOUT half a dozen eggs. Later, in the Great Valley Adventure, Ducky's parents are shown to have another nest, with about another half dozen or so. The film ended with the new clutch hatching.

Grandpa and Grandma Longneck

Grandpa and Grandma Longneck are Littlefoot's grandparents and his primary caregivers after his mother died. They act as parents to Littlefoot, giving him advice when needed and take their responsibility of protecting Littlefoot very seriously. Their real names have yet to be revealed; nearly everyone calls them Grandpa and Grandma, including each other. Topsy calls Littlefoot's grandfather "Longneck", whereas Bron, Littlefoot's father, calls him "Poppa Longneck." Grandma and Grandpa Longneck both have red eye's.

They provide a voice of reason in the Great Valley, trying to make peace between the dinosaurs when times become hard. Detailed analysis of the film series shows that Littlefoot's grandfather has assumed a leadership position among the dinosaurs of the Valley, welcoming visitors and newcomers (The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists and The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock), passing judgement on criminals (The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire), deciding a course of action for the herds of the Valley (The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island) managing natural resources such as water (The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island), and providing for the common defense in times of danger (The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure).

Grandpa Longneck is also shown to be a very loving husband to his wife (a song from part IV indicates that institutionalized marriage does exist in the Land Before Time universe) and a kindly grandfather-figure not only to Littlefoot but to all the young dinosaurs of the Valley. He, in fact, has been known to tell children stories in the evenings, usually near a geothermal heat-vent. It can therefore be assumed that he was good father to his late daughter, Littlefoot's mother. He also gets along well with Bron, his suggested son-in-law. However, while is mostly free of the bigotry that characterizes some other dinosaurs, he has a prejudiced view of sharptooth dinosaurs. He sees them as "not very smart"; however, it is a considerably less severe condemnation than that of his son-in-law, who despises them as cowards.

As seen in Land Before Time, after being separated from Littlefoot, his grandparents gave up hope of ever seeing either him or their daughter again and went searching for the Valley. On the way, they met other dinosaurs who joined their search for the Valley as well, not unlike how their children also found and joined each other. It is likely at this time that he was formally introduced to Topsy and assumed the leadership of the combined herds. As of the moment, Grandpa and Grandma Longneck live happily in the Great Valley, though they occasionally meet with relatives as in the Part IV or leave and coincidentally meet with other longnecks as in Part X.

Grandpa Longneck has been shown to be rather undecided in his beliefs. This is quite unlike his daughter who stated that "somethings [...] you see with your heart" and whose ghost in the first films shows that the "supermundane" does indeed exist in their world. In The Secret of Saurus Rock he tells the children legends of heroic dinosaurs and of the mystical Saurus Rock that protects the Valley, but when asked whether the stories are really true, claims not to know. However, during The Great Migration he intuitively knows that he must go and that he must re-enact the longneck creation myth. Littlefoot has under belly markings identical to those of Grandma Longneck, unlike his mother who bore her suggested father Grandpa Longneck's under markings. Grandpa Longneck has a type of light grape under belly marking's while his wife Grandma Longneck has a gold/copper under belly marking's.

Grandpa Longneck's health appears to be frailer than those of his family, though both he and his wife weaken as they age.

Grandpa and Grandma Longneck have appeared in all The Land Before Time films.

Littlefoot's Mother

Appearing only in the original The Land Before Time, Littlefoot's Mother was shown to be a very loving mother to her only living son. She got along well with her parents and loved her husband Bron very much, naming their son after him; "Littlefoot" having been Bron's nickname as a child. She led the herd in search of the Great Valley. At the time of her son's birth, the land was suffering geologic and ecologic upheavals that included but were not limited to drought, flooding, famine, predation, and earthquakes. Determined that her son not grow up in such an environment, she led her herd in search of the Great Valley "a wonderful, beautiful place" with green food, "more than you could ever eat, and with more fresh, cool water than you could ever drink." She had no proof that the Great Valley even existed, but was guided by her belief that "some things you see with your eyes [while] others you see with your heart."

The canonical, Bambi-like death of the parent occurred when, late one night near dawn, she died protecting Littlefoot and Cera from Sharptooth. She put up a tremendous fight and cast him into the "big underground," the bottom of a Grand Canyon-like gorge that had just been torn open by a tremendous earthquake. However, Sharptooth was not dead, and even this fleeting victory cost Littlefoot's mother her life, as Sharptooth had bit a large chunk of flesh out of her back and gashed her neck in their fight (implying that she may have died from blood loss). With her last breath, she told her son to search for the Great Valley and that she would be with him. Later, her ghost would appear to her son in times of need and aid him in the quest for the Great Valley. Her last appearance was at the end of the first film when Littlefoot despaired of ever finding the Great Valley; she took to the form of a longnecked cloud to guide him into the Great Valley, whereupon a beam of light came from her heart. The light shone on Littlefoot and spread to illuminate the Great Valley below.

Though long since dead, she is periodically mentioned through the film series and may have made an appearance in The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island. Littlefoot remembers his mother and looks at a star shining brighter than the others. Littlefoot also wished his mother had given him a brother in The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water. She also made an appearance in a flashback in The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration. In this film, she is seen blue-ish, and looks more like Grandma and Grandpa, though in the first movie The Land Before Time, she is seen brown like Bron.

She was one of the wisest and most enlightened of all the dinosaurs (Although not quite to the extent of her son); however she tends to accept the fact that a lot of the dinosaur herds tended to be segregated. Even she does not understand why this is so; all she can tell her son is that "it's always been that way." When the only other child around at that time- Cera- is not allowed to play with Littlefoot because he is a longneck and Cera a threehorn, Littlefoot's mother comforts him by telling him that in the Great Valley "there will be many, many longnecks for you to play with". However, the fact that she saved both Littlefoot and Cera from Sharptooth shows that she was willing to abandon racial taboos. Her true name is unknown. She is often referred to as simply Littlefoot's Mother and sometimes Mama Longneck. She is likely Grandpa and Grandma Longneck's daughter, as her husband refers to Grandpa Longneck as "Papa Longneck" instead of "father". She has the same under markings as her suggested father.

Petrie's Mother

Known as Mama Flyer by fans, Petrie's mother has a big heart toward all the young ones and is protective of her children. She once offered comfort to Ducky's mother when the latter was abducted by Pterano and his cronies. Although she believes her brother would never intentionally hurt anyone, she is quite severe on Pterano, and makes it clear that she does not trust him. She plays the major role in the Great Day Of The Flyers

Petrie's Brothers and Sisters

They had brief appearances in I-XI. They have a bigger part in The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers.

However, the number of brothers and sisters Petrie has seems to change between films.

They are voiced by Jeff Bennett (who voices Petrie), Nika Futterman, and Susan Blu.

Pterano

Pterano is Petrie's long lost uncle, voiced by Michael York. While idolized by his nephews and nieces, namely Petrie, he is not trusted by his sister (Petrie's mother), nor by Littlefoot, Cera, Grandpa Longneck, or Topsy. The reason for such suspicion is seen in how, after the combined herds joined under Grandpa Longneck in search of the Great Valley, Pterano promised one faction an easy way to the Valley and, due to his incompetent leadership, blundered them into a sharptooth ambush that only he survived. After reuniting with his sister in the Great Valley, he, along with his henchmen Rinkus (a Rhamphorhynchus) and Sierra (a Cearadactylus), began searching for the Stone of Cold Fire, a comet which he thinks will grant him magic power. He fails and winds up putting Petrie and The Other Children in danger, but saves them at the end. Rewarding the rescue, Grandpa Longneck exiles Pterano for a [reduced] period of 5 cold times (winters/years).

Pterano is at first shown to be proud and cold, though less aggressive than his comrades Rinkus and Sierra. However, he shows his softer side throughout the film as he scolds his companions for continuously acting violently toward the young dinos; feeling remorse when he believed Ducky had fallen through a hole to her death; taking responsibility for the action instead of blaming his henchmen (a sign, perhaps, of maturity); ordering the sidekicks to leave the young ones alone after Sierra had recaptured Ducky; refusing Sierra's idea to feed the children to the sharpteeth once the trio had "taken over"; and personally saving Ducky from a fatal fall off the mountaintop. In the end, he shows his softer side as he says goodbye to Petrie and tells him he will miss him.

Pterano appears in The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire and has not been seen since. However, in The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration a lone pterosaur resembling Pterano is seen when Littlefoot and his grandparents leave the valley. He is sometimes mentioned in the TV series.

Ruby's Parents

They appeared in "The Star Day Celebration" and "Return to Hanging Rock"

They have wrinkles, implying age. The Mother is pink and the Father is blue. The Father also has an elderly-like voice.

Ruby's Siblings

They appeared in "The Star Day Celebration" and "Return to Hanging Rock"

There are two; one is a blue color, and the other is pink.

Shorty

A dark green Brachiosaurus, who appeared in The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration. In Bron's backstory, Shorty was found wandering in the wilderness with eight or so orange Brachiosaurus hatchlings. Since he was the eldest of the small herd, he is shown in the flashback to be very protective of the hatchlings. Shorty, along with the hatchlings, followed Bron.

In the crater, Shorty and Littlefoot fail to co-exist peacefully until near the end of the movie, when Littlefoot stopped him from leaving the area alone Littlefoot proposed the two could be brothers, which made Shorty happier and less jealous of Littlefoot. In the end, he gets on well with Littlefoot's friends. Bron finally adopts him after Littlefoot tells Bron to take care of Shorty, officially making him Littlefoot's stepbrother.

Shorty is the young bully of the film, since he had a nasty past and was the only one from that small herd that was not adopted until the end of the film. He was antisocial, mostly wandering by himself and picking on other young dinosaurs, including Littlefoot. His name is ironic in that "Shorty" is a playground insult; he is also shorter than Littlefoot even though he is clearly older than him.

Shorty appeared with Bron in the TV series episode "The Big Longneck Test". He was voiced by Brandon De Paul in the film, and Elizabeth Daily in the TV series.

Topsy

Topsy is a Triceratops, the father of Cera. For many films, his true name was unknown; he was credited as "Daddy Topps" in the first film and "Cera's Dad" in the first ten sequels. Most of his peers called him "Threehorn", while Grandpa and Grandma Longneck would call him "my friend" or "Mister Three-Horn". There has been some argument over whether or not "Topsy" is his real name and not a pet name given him by Tria. This is seen in how Cera was visibly angered when Ducky called him by it. Even so, it is assumed that Topsy is indeed his real name.

His personality was unknown in the first film, but he was shown to be guilty of racism, or speciesism. He is seen growling at Littlefoot (whom he sees as a bad influence on Cera) and telling him that "Threehorns never play with longnecks." He was often portrayed as pompous, self-righteous, and bigoted; the degree of his pride and perverse stubbornness was seen in The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving when he took Cera straight into a wildfire rather than go with the other dinosaurs. He is aware of his bad attitude, but, in the beginning at least, thought nothing of it, saying that even if he was thought mean, he had a family to protect and he would do that by any means necessary. In a song from The Time of the Great Giving he says that was inculcated with this attitude by his own father, who told him to "stand and fight, don't run away." In recent films, he has still been shown stern and less understanding than Grandpa Longneck; but his prejudice and bad attitude have gradually lessened through the many sequels.

There is also the question of where Topsy's wife is - indeed, the film The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses, shows him happily courting Tria; Littlefoot was shown asking if she would be Cera's new mother. Topsy's earlier mate was shown near the start of The Land Before Time as were their other children. However, when he and Cera were reunited at the end of the film, some of the other children were gone; his wife as well as the other featured children disappearing afterwards as the result of an accidental retcon. Given the fatalistic attitude of the first film (the narrator having stated that "Sharpteeth stalked the herds waiting to seize any who strayed") it is likely they died on the way to the Great Valley. However, as seen by the presence of Topsy's grandchildren, Dinah and Dana, in The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock, at least one of his children, unnamed and likely from before Cera's egg-laying, is alive. After Invasion of the Tinysauruses, Topsy and Tria have another daughter, Tricia.

In recent films, he has been shown to be part of the Great Valley's leadership, sharing power with Littlefoot's grandfather. Though Topsy and Littlefoot's family met early in the first film, it is assumed that he and Grandpa Longneck were formally introduced to each other and decided to assume shared leadership of the combined herds after they were separated from their children in the great earthquake. This was shown in a flashback in The Stone of Cold Fire.

Topsy is portrayed by Burke Byrnes in The Land Before Time and John Ingle in all of the sequels, except The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists, where he never made an appearance.

Tria

Tria is a pink "Threehorn" (Triceratops). She is kind, loving and brave, though her character may seem rather false and unconvincing at first. It is revealed in The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses that she and Topsy (Cera's dad) met when they were younger, and are reunited in the film, much to the dismay of Cera, who is very used to being the center of her father's attention. Despite some false starts, however, Cera and her new stepmother do manage to get along in the end. Unlike Topsy, Tria immediately finds the Tinysauruses cute when she comes across a wandering pair, which is why she separates from him for a short time. Tria and Topsy have a child in The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers.

She is portrayed by Camryn Manheim in the eleventh and twelfth films and Jessica Gee in the TV series and the thirteenth film.

Tricia

Tricia is a young dark pink Triceratops. She is the daughter of Tria and Topsy and the half-sister of Cera. Her first appearance is in The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers. Due to the fact that Tricia is a baby Triceratops, she does not have any teeth yet. She is also known to be a better swimmer than Cera.

In The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers, she said her first word, which was "Cera."

She is voiced by Nika Futterman in The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers and Meghan Strange (who voices Ruby) in The Land Before Time TV series.