Iguanodon was a large plant-eating dinosaur that lived during the Cretaceous period.

NAME

Meaning - Iguanodon means “Iguana tooth”
Pronounced - ig-WAHN-oh-don
Named By - Gideon Mantell
When Named - 1825
DIET

Herbivore (plant-eater) - Iguanodon probably ate cycads, conifers, and ginkgos
SIZE

Length - 20-33 ft (6-10 m) long
Height - 9 ft (2.7 m) tall at the hips
Weight - 4-5 tons
WHEN IT LIVED

Cretaceous period, about 135-125 million years ago
WHERE IT LIVED

Fossils have been found in Europe (in England, Belgium, and Germany), northern Africa, and the USA.
FOSSILS

Teeth and a few bones of Iguanodon were found in 1822, (perhaps by Gideon Mantell’s wife, Mrs Mary Mantell) in Sussex, (southern) England. Hundreds of Iguanodon fossils have been found since then.
CLASSIFICATION
  • Kingdom Animalia (animals)
  • Phylum Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
  • Class Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
  • Order Ornithischia - bird-hipped dinosaurs
  • Suborder Ornithopoda
  • Infraorder Iguanodontia - having spiked thumbs
  • Genus Iguanodon
  • Species I. bernissartensis (type species named by Boulenger and van Beneden, 1881)
INTERESTING FACTS

Iguanodon was the second dinosaur that was scientifically named. This dinosaur had a hard, conical spike on each thumb.
LINKS

A detailed page on Iguanodon.
Iguanodon coloring/information page to print.