# Iguanodon (Iguanodon bernissartensis) — DinoLand

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### id=15: Iguanodon (Iguanodon bernissartensis)

- URL: https://www.dinoland.ai/species.html?lang=en&id=15
- Diet: Herbivore
- Era: Cretaceous
- Period: 126–122 million years ago
- Length: 10 m
- Weight: ≈3–4 t
- Height: 3,5 m
- Speed: ≈24 km/h
- Habitat: Coastal forests, marshes, and braided rivers
- Region: Europe; correlative beds in North America
- Discovered: 1825, Gideon Mantell (later refined by contemporary workers)

Fact: “Thumb spike—one of the first dinosaurs to enter scientific literature.”

Description: Iguanodon was an abundant Early Cretaceous ornithopod that could switch between quadrupedal and bipedal locomotion. A conical pollex spike furnished a defensive weapon, while broad beaks and densely packed batteries of cheek teeth processed tough vegetation along coastal lowlands bridging Europe and North America. The Bernissart mines famously yielded dozens of nearly complete skeletons in volcanic mud infills.

Features:
  - Among the second and third dinosaurs recognized by modern taxonomy
  - Rich Bernissart assemblages record catastrophic trapping events
  - Keratin-covered beak cropped plants ahead of dental batteries

Related genera: Mantellisaurus, Ouranosaurus, Barilium


## Citation

Field Journal — Dinosaur Encyclopedia — https://www.dinoland.ai

Web: https://www.dinoland.ai/species.html?lang=en&id=15
Index: https://www.dinoland.ai/llms-en.txt