how cera know she is the oldest?

[kjeldo]

heya! something what bottered me since... 12 min. is, how cera know she is the oldest? i heared her saying that a thousand times(well something like that,) do you know?

[Kor]

She may not be, but it is normal for her to think she is the oldest, & the best at many things if not everything.  The others may not care who is oldest and know better then to argue with Cera so they may take the easy way and let her say she is the oldest.

[Ptyra]

Maybe they can tell 'age' by scent. (Or in Spike's case, sound   )

[Spike_of_the_Valley]

Hmm, I don't immediately recall an instance of Cera saying she's the oldest (I'm assuming this is concerning the five main characters here), but let's see if I can find some justification:

Spike: obviously younger than any of the other four.  

Littlefoot: roughly the same size as Cera (in the sequels at least, in the original she seems to be noticeably smaller from my recollection), and from a species that is supposed to grow to be way bigger than threehorns.  

I can't think of any justification for her to think she's older than Ducky or Petrie.  Sure, she's bigger than them, but they're both from smaller species in the first place.

[Malte279]

The only instance I recall in which Cera claimed being the oldest was at the beginning of LBT 5. It was the first movie done by Charles Grosvenor who sadly never took as much care about details as Roy Alan Smith did. Even if we suppose the LBT dinosaurs to have a memory that goes back to the day they hatch (something that is supported by Chomper) I don't see how Cera would know that she hatched before anyone else (even if that had been the order in the original movie).

[pokeplayer984]

The only instance I recall in which Cera claimed being the oldest was at the beginning of LBT 5. It was the first movie done by Charles Grosvenor who sadly never took as much care about details as Roy Alan Smith did. Even if we suppose the LBT dinosaurs to have a memory that goes back to the day they hatch (something that is supported by Chomper) I don't see how Cera would know that she hatched before anyone else (even if that had been the order in the original movie).

Maybe Cera claiming she's the oldest is actually the makers of LBT 5 looking at Ducky, Cera and Littlefoot hatching in a different way than we do.  Perhaps each of the scenes of where they hatch start at the same time.  I'm gonna have to go over the timeframe of each to be sure, but I think this might be it.

However, we must also look at the fact that we never saw Petrie hatch.  We have no idea when he was born.  For all we know, he could be the oldest of them all.

[Kor]

He may be, but it is easier to not say anything if Cera claims to be the oldest to let her do so.  It avoids arguments.  The others may just be thinking, if she wants to claim to be the oldest, let her think so.

[Serris]

She may not be the oldest but since she is so headstrong and vain, it's probably easier for Littlefoot and the gang to simply agree that she is the oldest.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

Ruby knows when her birthday is by comparing the positions of the stars. If the others knew how to do that, they could see whose star-positions showed up first, therefore establishing their order of birth.

[rosie]

She was hatched before everyone else except for Rudy.

[Malte279]

^ Not from the sequence we saw in the original movie (where Ducky was the first to hatch and which never showed Petrie's hatching). But even if she was it would be almost impossible for the gang to be certain about their exact hatching time unless they have been counting days and hours since the minute they hatched. Even the means of time calculation we have been shown in the movies (stars) may not work out considering the fact that they spend a very long time traveling (covering potentially large distances which would most likely make it impossible for dinosaurs to "read" the different stars like a clock).
The original movie may also be understood as suggesting that Ducky, Cera, and Littlefoot hatched on the same day which would really lead comparing their age ad absurdum.
I'm afraid it is just another of the cases of sequels makers' sad lack of regard for the content of earlier movies.

[Kor]

Yes, many writers of various things tend to ignore or have no knowledge of details since they don't go back and watch things, and there is usually no one central person who makes sure the continuity is tight and all fits in.