FACT SHEET: Iguanodon

FACT SHEET: iguanodon

NAME: IGUANODON (ee-GUAN-oh-don), meaning: “Iguana Tooth” SIZE: 30 feet long, 16 feet tall at the hips (the size of a bus), weighed 5 tons TYPE OF DIET: Herbivore (leaves from cycads) WHEN: Late Jurassic period (135 - 125 million years ago) WHERE: Belgium, England, Germany (Europe), North America, North Africa

Iguanodon fossils are some of the first dinosaur bones ever found. A tooth and a few bones were found by a British scientist named Gideon Mantell in the 1820s. These first fossils looked like the teeth of a modern iguana. That is how Iguanodon got its name, which means “iguana tooth”. Iguanodon lived about 135 to 125 million years ago. The Iguanodon was a very successful dinosaur; the species survived for a long time. Iguanodon bones have been found in many places. Iguanodon spread and lived in every continent except Antarctica. It was a big herbivore, meaning that it ate only plants. It grew to be about 30 feet long and 16 feet tall. That is about the size of a school bus. It spent most of its time on all fours, but could run on two legs when it needed to move quickly. It was a relatively fast dinosaur. It could rear up onto its two back legs in order to escape from predators, and it could use its hands to gather food. Iguanodon had a flat, stiff tail, which stuck straight out behind it for balance. It had no front teeth, just a horn-covered beak which it used to rip the leaves off tough plants. In the back of its mouth it had rows of grinding teeth packed closely together. We believe that Iguanodon traveled in large groups. We know this because about 30 Iguanodon skeletons were found together in a coal mine in Belgium, in Northern Europe. Among them were bones of adults and younger dinosaurs.