Iguanodon

Iguanodon

Diet : Herbivorous

Habitat : Forest areas, often near river channels

Length : 13 feet (4 meters)

Weight : About 480 lb (220 kg)

The Dinehichnus track assemblage from the Morrison Formation of the Boundary Butte in Utah are supposed by Gerard Gierliński and Karol Sabath, in 2008, to have been left by the ornithopod multispecies herd comprised of camptosaurids and dryosaurids. The large Dinehichnus footprints (9 inches, 23 cm long) are supposed to be left by Camptosaurus. Those large Dinehichnus ichnites are slightly different in shape from smaller tracks with a slightly more projected middle toe. This is interesting because normally we observe the progression from the juvenile to the adult size individual. Then in case of dinosaur tracks we observe the opposite phenomenon, which is true as well and proves that these are made by two different species.

A bulky plant-eater, Camptosaurus from Late Jurassic of U.S.A. (Morrison Formation of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Oklahoma) resembled the more advanced herbivore Iguanodon. Camptosaurus had a primitive hand, where a first finger had a short spike like the Iguanodon. Also, the ends of its second and third fingers were more curved and less hoof-like than Iguanodon‘s. Camptosaurus had heavy hindlimbs and short forelimbs, suggesting that it may have moved on two legs. Its large bony wrists indicate that it could also walk on all fours, probably when grazing on low-growing vegetation. Based on studies of other iguanodonts, scientists believe Camptosaurus may have been able to achieve running speeds of 15 miles (25 km) per hour.