Iguanodon is a related group among modern ones. Iguanodonts. Nutrition and lifestyle

Iguanodon can be safely called the very first among the identified dinosaurs. Scientists were able to identify and describe this type of dinosaur back in 1820, after its remains were discovered in England. The first records of this species date back to 1922.

Iguanodon - the first owner of the semblance of a beak

Iguanodon is a herbivorous dinosaur that ate exclusively plant foods. It was distributed in many areas from Western Europe to Mongolia. up to 12 meters in length, and weight reached 5 tons. He had a large head. On the front of the muzzle, it had a peculiar beak, designed to capture leaves from the tops of trees. He usually moved on 4 legs, but in case of danger or if he wanted to reach the top of the juicy needles, he was able to stand on two hind limbs.

He moved, despite his impressive size, quite vigorously, and could reach speeds of up to 30 km / h. The hind legs were slightly shorter than the front. The powerful tail also served as an additional support while the iguanodon stood on its hind limbs.

Iguanadon's paw - a prototype of the human foot

Iguanodon had an interesting arrangement of the front paws, they were four-fingered with an additional outgrowth in the form of a spike, somewhat reminiscent of a human thumb. He could use it both as a defense against predators, and as well as an additional finger to grab bushes and branches. It had three toes on its hind legs, which greatly improved its stability when walking and running.

Iguanodons had the first back teeth!

Iguanodon was the first herbivorous dinosaur that had back teeth, such a jaw device helped to chew even the toughest plant foods, which greatly improved the digestion process. The rest of the herbivorous dinosaurs of that time were only capable of picking leaves, but were not adapted to chewing. All the time, the iguanodons were busy looking for food, since it is not easy for such a giant to feed themselves.

Researchers, studying the remains of this species, made confident statement that iguanodons are herd animals, as they found a large cluster of several dinosaurs at once.

Iguanodon - the first dinosaur representative of ornithischians

Scientists have attributed the iguanodon to the ornithischian order. They reproduced by laying eggs. In habitats, along with the remains of this species of dinosaur, fossilized remains of eggs were found, relatively large and elongated in shape. Scientists also tend to believe that iguanodons built huge nests from leaves and branches. Iguanodon cubs for a long time moved only on their hind legs. While the skeletal system and spine are not strong enough to allow you to get down on all fours. Juveniles were often the prey of predators, and then adults used their famous fifth finger-growth. It was used as a kind of bone knife, and could discourage enemies from attacking cubs for a long time.

We open the category of ornithopods from the historically second described terrible lizard (the first was Megalosaurus). Scientists often came up with the names of dinosaurs according to conspicuous features. latin translated as "iguana tooth" due to the similarity of the teeth with the aforementioned lizard. Apparently, the “iguanotooths” adapted well to the conditions of the external environment, so they managed to spread almost all over the globe!

Time and place of existence

Iguanodons existed at the beginning of the Cretaceous period, about 126 - 125 million years ago. They were distributed in the territory of modern Belgium. Fragmentary remains that may belong to this genus have also been found in some other European countries.

Iguanodon was a large herbivore, with a massive body that reached about 10 meters (33 feet) in length and weighed up to 3.5 tons. The arms were long (up to 75% of the length of the legs) and strong, which suggests that he spent most of his time standing with all his limbs on the ground, eating food, but in case of danger, he could quickly move on powerful hind legs. The forelimbs had 5 fingers, of which the three middle fingers were the most developed, the thumb on the hand had the shape of a large conical spike, located at a right angle with respect to the other fingers of the hand. The hind limbs had three large fingers, the bones of the limbs were powerful, the spine was reinforced with stiff tendons.

Published calculations suggest that Iguanodon could reach speeds of up to 24 km/h in a bipedal position. The speed when moving on four legs was probably lower. These large animals had narrow skulls with a toothless beak, probably covered in keratin. The upper jaw contains up to 29 teeth on each side, the lower jaw - up to 25 teeth, the teeth in the lower jaw were wider than in the upper.

Given the deep placement of the teeth in relation to the outside of the jaws, the iguanodon had a peculiar cheek to hold food in its mouth. When the jaws closed, the upper jaw turned outwards, resulting in a chewing motion. The teeth were grouped into "batteries" as they were constantly being replaced, iguanodon could feed on tough plants. Iguanodons could eat food both at ground level and at a height of four to five meters, according to Norman, his diet consisted of plants such as conifers and palm ferns. Iguanodon is considered to be the dominant large herbivore in its habitat.

Types and history of discovery

So far, one species is generally recognized, which is accordingly the type: Iguanodon bernissartensis. A few more are under discussion, due to dubiousness or a small amount of material.

England is not only the birthplace of creative innovation. Important paleontological discoveries were made there. The first fossilized Iguanodon bones were found in Sussex by Gideon Mantell. His wife Mary helped diligently. Mantell published a description in 1825.

In 1878, an important discovery of a whole cemetery of iguanodons takes place in a mine ravine near the Belgian town of Bernissart. At a depth of 322 meters. As many as 38 well-preserved skeletons, some of which are almost complete. Fossils have greatly advanced the study of iguanodontids. Now they are exhibited at the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences of Belgium. Periodically, new finds appear in different parts of the world.

body structure

The body length of the ornithopod reached 10 meters. The height is up to 5 m. Iguanodon weighed up to 3 tons.

Head

The head of the iguanodon, about one meter long, ended in a beak, with the help of which the dinosaur plucked leaves and bit small shrubs. The shape of the head of the Iguanodon resembled the head of a modern horse. The iguanadon had no front teeth. The dinosaur chewed food with teeth located deep in the beak. In the mouth of an iguanadon, there were about a hundred teeth that looked like teeth.modern iguana, only much larger. Food was rubbed when moving the jaws along. Another notable feature of Iguanodon was the presence of cheek-like skin pouches in which food was held when chewed.

limbs

Iguanodon moved on four legs, but sometimes stood up on its hind legs to escape from enemies or feast on vegetation growing at a height of 5-6 meters. The front legs were shorter than the hind legs by a quarter, resting on three central toes. The forelimbs looked unusual. The forelimbs of Iguanodon had 5 fingers. The fifth finger was not quite an ordinary finger. It was in the form of a large spike about 20 cm long and was relatively mobile and most likely served as a means of defense against predatory lizards, for example baryonix or flocks utahraptorov. The five-fingered brush was well adapted for grasping branches, so that it would be more convenient for the iguanodon to eat them. The hind legs were not much longer than the front legs and had three toes.

The forelimbs are quite developed. Moreover, the structure of the hands is somewhat similar to the human. The three middle fingers were strong and ended in flat, hoof-like claws. They were used for support while moving. The flexible fifth finger served as a human thumb for grasping objects (for example, when the iguanodon tilted branches or ate stems). Some kind of "big little finger". But the most amazing finger is the first one. It lacked intermediate joints, creating a sharp spike about 20 cm long! Most likely its main purpose is a defense weapon against predators. Perhaps the iguanodon used them to drive away rivals in the herd or used them to obtain special food.

A stiff, laterally flattened tail served as a classic support for balance.

The skull, vaguely similar to a horse, ended in a bone beak, with which the iguanodon plucked plants. Strong teeth, really like iguanas, were quite suitable for thorough chewing. There were 29 of them on the upper and 25 on the lower jaw.

Males were larger than females, which is observed in many modern animals.

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Iguanodons are large herbivorous lizards from the group of ornithopod dinosaurs. The animal reached 9 meters in length and its weight was more than 5 tons.

Iguanodons lived in the first half of the Cretaceous period in Western Europe, North Africa, Mongolia and North America.

The hip of Iguanodon is more similar in structure to a bird's. In most dinosaurs, the hip structure is closer to that of the lizard. In this regard, at the beginning of the study, scientists made a mistake. In the beginning, the researchers attributed the skeleton to the remains of an unknown species of giant lizard.

A detailed description of Iguanodon has been made from more than one find. For the first time the remains of Iguanodon were discovered in England. Similar remains were unearthed in a coal mine in Belgium. From these findings, paleontologists now have an idea about the lifestyle and habits of this prehistoric animal.

The first find of Iguanodon bones made in England was discovered by the village doctor Gideon Mantel, who was fond of paleontology. He and his wife collected fossil bones from a quarry near a small town in Sussex. A scientist-doctor came across several fossilized teeth of some prehistoric animal. The shape of the teeth was unusual - leaf-shaped. Fossilized bones were also found.

Scientists, who first examined the find of a doctor, attributed the bones to the ancient, and the teeth to. But an attentive village doctor doubted the paleontologists' assertion. In the laboratory of a familiar zoologist, he saw a modern tooth. The found teeth of an unknown fossil animal were an exact copy of the teeth of an iguana, only many times smaller. Such a comparison made it possible to assert that the teeth of an ancient reptile were discovered. In 1825, the found parts of the skeleton were given the name "iguanodon", which means "iguanotooth".

In Belgium, in the coal mines near the village of Bernissart in 1876, a whole Iguanodon cemetery was waiting to be explored. Complete remains were also found in the found 39 Belgian skeletons. The found bones were collected, dissected and mounted in a bipedal position in the Brussels Museum.

If we consider in detail the structure of Iguanodons, what are the most interesting are its limbs. The legs of the animal are very similar to the clawed paws of a huge bird. There were five toes on the front paw and three on the back. Iguanodon had a very large claw, which the English scientist Richard Owen initially mistook for a horn.

The structure of the head of Iguanodon is also curious. The beak (mouth) of the animal was similar to the beak of a modern parrot. With this beak, Iguanodon tore off the shoots of plants and leaves, while helping itself with the fingers of the forelimbs.

The animal had to support a large mass (about 5 tons) and spend the whole day in search of food.

They lived and ate in herds. Their life took place near small reservoirs, which were surrounded by dense thickets of trees. Their teeth are similar to today's iguanas, so when they found the first skeleton of this species, scientists confused it with ancient iguanas. Only later were complete skeletons and larger teeth found.

This dinosaur ate only vegetation, could move both on 2 legs and on 4 legs. The front paws had sharp claws.

What did they eat and what kind of life did they lead?

Life took place almost throughout the north of America, in Europe, Africa and Asia. They ate mainly only leaves from trees and bushes, because. the teeth were wide and strong enough, the saurus could pick up a huge amount of foliage in its cheeks and chew it, while other herbivores swallowed stones to grind food.

Details about the structure of the body

The skeleton was strong, especially the dinosaur skull can be distinguished, it was long (up to 1 m) and consisted of several very strong bones tightly adjacent to each other.

Dimensions

It could reach 10m in length, on average - 7.5m
Height 3m
Body weight - up to 5 tons

Head

The jaws ended in a beak, it was very durable, so even to our time it has been preserved in excellent condition.

There were not less strong teeth in the jaw, there were a lot of them (60) and they were quite long, located close to each other.

limbs

There were 4 paws, the front ones are slightly shorter than the hind ones. This is the only species that could move on 2 hind legs or completely on 4 legs. There were 3 toes on the hind legs. The front paws were with five fingers, their location is almost the same as in humans. This suggests that Iguanodon could pick leaves not only with its beak, but also with its front paws. All fingers had sharp claws, but the 5th finger had a particularly large, sharp claw, which could provide protection from attackers.

Could develop a running speed of up to 25 km / h. The tail helped to maintain balance when running.

We open the category of ornithopods from the historically second described terrible lizard (the first was Megalosaurus). Scientists often came up with the names of dinosaurs according to conspicuous features. latin translated as "iguana tooth" due to the similarity of the teeth with the aforementioned lizard. Apparently, the "iguanotooth" adapted well to the conditions of the external environment, so they managed to spread almost all over the globe!