Baryonyx was a large predator that ate fish. A fossilized Baryonyx was found with a fossilized meal in its stomach; this stomach contained fish scales, fish bones, and some partially digested bones of a young Iguanodon. So far, Baryonyx is the only known dinosaur that ate fish. It may have waded in rivers and shallow seas to catch fish (just as some modern-day bears do).

LOCOMOTION
Baryonyx may have walked on two or four muscular legs. Although the front legs shorter than the rear legs, they were not that much shorter.

DISCOVERY OF FOSSILS
Baryonyx was found in 1983 in a clay pit in Surrey, England, by the British amateur fossil hunter William Walker. It was the first carnivorous (meat-eating) dinosaur found in England. About 70% of this dinosaur's skeleton was found. Baryonyx was found 30 miles south of London, England, in 1983. It was named in 1987 by British paleontologists Angela C. Milner and Alan J. Charig.

CLASSIFICATION
Baryonyx was an early Cretaceous Saurischian ("lizard-hipped") dinosaur. It was a very unusual theropod. It was a tetanuran belonging to the superfamily Spinosauroidea (related to Spinosaurus) and a Spinosauridae. The type species is B. walkeri.

BARYONYX ACTIVITIES/PRINTOUTS
10 questions about Baryonyx; A Find It! Quiz

Baryonyx Coloring Printout

Baryonyx Fact Sheet or a printable version.