Joel Kontinen
When the first fossil was found in 1822, it was thought that it
would walk like a dinosaur with a horn at the top of its head, but this was
lately found too be thumbs.
”Husband and wife
pair Mary Ann and Gideon Algernon Mantell discovered the first Iguanodon fossils
in 1822. Gideon, an amateur paleontologist, tried to determine what this
ancient herbivore looked like when it was alive during the Cretaceous period
(145 million to 66 million years ago). He settled on an appearance that was
similar to a living iguana, albeit giant, because their teeth were similar
— Iguanodon means "Iguana tooth."
The first
relatively complete Iguanodon skeletons emerged towards the
end of the 19th century and suggested a bipedal form. Today, researchers know
that Iguanodon mostly walked on all fours, but could move
bipedally while using its hands for grasping.
The fossils also
had two spikes, which were initially depicted as a horn — perhaps because
living rhinoceros iguanas (Cyclura cornuta) have a small horn — that
later turned out to be thumbs, according to the Natural History Museum in
London.”
The millions of
years in this study is all wrong, as some scientist have stated that dinos did
not live at the time.
Source:
Patrick Pester 2024 A sea monster with its head on its butt? 10 times we were completely wrong about dinosaur-age creatures | Live Science 30 December
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