Iguanodon

- Pronunciation: ig-WAN-oh-don
- Translation: Iguana-tooth
- Order: Ornithischia
- Suborder: Ornithopoda
- Infraorder: Iguanodontia
- Family: Iguanodontidae
- Height: 16 feet (4.9 meters)
- Weight: 10,000 pounds (4,536 kg)
- Length: 26 feet (7.9 meters)
- Period: Early Cretaceous
- Description: Herbivore, Bipedal
- Notes: Iguanodon is one first dinosaurs to be named and described,the other two being Megalosaurus and Hylaeosaurus. It receivedits name from the fact that it had teeth resembling those of modernIguana lizards, although much larger. Iguanodon sported a spiked thumb on each hand, and it is thought that the spike served as a weapon of defense. Several dozen specimens were discovered togetherin Belgium, suggesting that these dinosaurs traveled in herds. Footprints of Iguanodon have been found from England to Spitzbergen tonorth of the Arctic Circle.