Iguanodon

Conquering the world

In the Jurassic and at the beginning of the Cretaceous, dinosaurs spread all over the continents. This was the heyday of dinosaurs, but also of reptiles, as they conquered the skies as well as the seas. Some dinosaur species were so widespread that their remains can be found on almost every continent.

Fossils of the dinosaur Iguanodon have been found all over the world, with the exception of Antarctica. Iguanodon was thus one of the most successful dinosaurs in terms of worldwide distribution.

In addition, it was one of the first dinosaurs that, like us humans, chewed its food before swallowing it. This was quite unusual at the time, because not many creatures had a jaw system that connected ear bones with jaw bones. So, it was the dinosaurs and not the mammals that perfected the masticatory system.

The trademark of Iguanodon, which walked upright on two legs, was the thumb spine. This was an extremely powerful claw that was probably used against predators and in mating fights.

Iguanodon was also one of the first dinosaurs to be identified by scientists. In 1822, a fossilised thumb spine was found in southern England. During its reconstruction, however, the scientists initially made a big mistake: the thumb spine was interpreted as a horn. It was placed on the Iguanodon's nose, giving it the appearance of a rhinoceros. Only 50 years later, in 1878, when more than 30 complete Iguanodon skeletons were discovered, the position of the thumb spine could be correctly interpreted.