Iguanodon

Iguanodon was the second dinosaur ever scientifically named, playing a pivotal role in the dawn of palaeontology. Discovered originally from teeth in Sussex, England, our detailed knowledge of its anatomy comes from over thirty complete skeletons excavated from a coal mine in Bernissart, Belgium. Living during the Early Cretaceous, Iguanodon reached up to eleven metres long and tipped the scales at four tonnes. It possessed a massive, conical spike on each thumb, originally mistaken for a nose horn, which served as a defensive weapon against predators. Its three central fingers were tipped with hoof-like nails for four-legged walking, while a prehensile fifth finger grasped plant stems, enabling flexible feeding strategies across European wetlands.

Famous complete skeletons were discovered over three hundred metres underground in a Belgian coal mine in 1878.

Where and when

Iguanodon lived in the Early Cretaceous, from 126 to 121 million years ago (Barremian-Aptian age). Its remains come from Belgium and United Kingdom and Germany and Spain, in the Sainte-Barbe Clays Formation.

The numbers

Length 10 m (estimates run from 9 to 11 m). Mass about 4 t. Hip height about 3 m. That is 5.9 human-lengths, or 0.89 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from near-complete skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.

Compare Iguanodon with a bus Place on the timeline