the.com/iguanodon
The dinosaur whose thumb spike science long mistook for a nose horn.
means A large plant-eating dinosaur of the early Cretaceous, recognizable by its conical thumb spikes and the ability to walk on two or four legs.
from Coined in the 1820s from 'iguana' plus the Greek 'odon,' meaning 'tooth' — because the fossil teeth that named it reminded its discoverers of a living iguana's teeth, only enormous. 'Iguana' itself came to English through Spanish from a Taíno word, 'iwana,' for the lizard. So the name literally means 'iguana-tooth,' a fittingly modest label for an animal whose famous spike was, for decades, planted firmly on the wrong end of its body.
- naming order
- Second dinosaur ever formally named, in 1825
- thumb weapon
- Conical spike likely defended against predators
- misplaced spike
- Early reconstructions stuck it on the snout
- size
- Reached ten meters and several tonnes
- jaw trick
- Hinged skull let teeth grind like a chewer
iguanodon bernissartensis — 23 nearly complete skeletons found in bernissart, belgium coal mine in 1878
iguanodon mantelli — first species named by gideon mantell in 1825 from sussex, england tooth fossil