NAME

Meaning - Baryonyx means “heavy claw”
Pronounced - BAR-ee-ON-iks
Named By - Angela C. Milner and Alan J. Charig
When Named - 1987
DIET

Carnivore (meat-eater) 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).
SIZE

Length - 32 feet (9.5 m) long
Height - 8 ft (2.5 m) tall at the hips
Weight - 1.5-2 tons
WHEN IT LIVED

Early to middle Cretaceous period, about 125 million years ago
WHERE IT LIVED

Fossils have been found in England, Europe.
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.
CLASSIFICATION
  • Kingdom Animalia (animals)
  • Phylum Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
  • Class Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
  • Order Saurischia - lizard-hipped dinosaurs
  • Suborder Theropoda - bipedal carnivores
  • Tetanura - advanced theropods with three fingers
  • Family Spinosauria
  • Genus Baryonyx
  • Species B. walkeri (type species named by Angela C. Milner and Alan J. Charig, 1987)
INTERESTING FACTS

Baryonyx had huge 1-foot (30.5-cm) long claws on its hands (hence its name). It had long, narrow, crocodile-like jaws with 96 small, serrated teeth (this is 1.5 times the number of teeth that most other theropods had). It had a small crest on its snout. Baryonyx had a long, straight neck (unlike other theropods, who had s-shaped necks) and a long tail. Its low-slung body was supported by 2 large rear legs and 2 slightly smaller arms.
LINKS

A detailed page on Baryonyx.A Baryonyx Printout10 questions about Baryonyx - A Find It! Quiz