Iguanodon bernissartensis ig-WAN-oh-don
"Iguana tooth"
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Iguanodon 10 m (33 ft) long
6 people holding hands
- Length
- 10 m (33 ft) — About 10 m long, ~3 tonnes — large bipedal herbivore with thumb spikes.
- Period
- Early Cretaceous (126–122 Mya)
- Place
- Europe · Belgium · England · Germany
- Food
- Herbivore — Cycads, ferns, conifer needles — chewed by a sophisticated jaw that worked like grinding teeth.
Iguanodon was the second dinosaur ever named, in 1825. The first scientists thought it was a giant iguana — they put its thumb spike on its nose, mistaking it for a horn. Decades later, when 38 complete skeletons were dug out of a coal mine in Belgium, paleontologists finally understood: the spikes were thumbs, the body was that of a giant bipedal plant-eater.
What we know
- Second dinosaur ever named (after Megalosaurus), in 1825.
- Iconic thumb spike — possibly defensive, possibly for cracking seeds.
- 38 complete skeletons found in a Belgian coal mine in 1878 — the famous Bernissart specimens.
- Sophisticated chewing teeth that worked like a grinding mill.
What we guess
- Whether the thumb spike was a weapon, a tool for breaking seeds, or both.
- Whether it walked on two legs or four — modern view says it could do both depending on need.
- How big the herds were — Bernissart suggests groups, but might be an accumulation.