Day #9 on our Christmas Countdown is…

Iguanodon!

Iguanodon: the “Iguana Tooth”

There are few dinosaurs with as much history and drama as Iguanodon. It is one of the three original pillars for the coining of the name Dinosauria, alongside Megalosaurus and Hyaleosaurus, and was one of the first sparks that inspired a blazing fire in our culture and media ever since.

The legend begins in 1822, when Gideon Mantell was visiting one of his patients. Dr. Mantell was deeply interested in geology and paleontology, especially after the recent discoveries of Mary Anning’s marine reptiles, and he had a flourishing obstetric practice (meaning he would care for pregnant women and their babies).

The story goes that he sometimes brought his wife along on his patient visits, and she would explore a local quarry that they both enjoyed to visit. In fact, Dr. Mantell was already writing a book about the rock strata in that area, with details of all sorts of plants, shells and other fossils from what he called the Tilgate Forest Strata. So when his wife brought some fossil finds of some very unusual teeth, he was instantly intrigued.

Now it is uncertain whether it was actually Dr. Mantell or his wife who found the first teeth. Either way, he had already started finding a few very large bones and other teeth in the area, the remains of what he believed to be a very large crocodile (some of these were later described as Megalosaurus). So when these new teeth were found, he quickly began showing them to other fossil enthusiasts.

Unfortunately, most other scientists dismissed the finds as fish or mammal teeth from something more recent than other fossils found at the Tilgate Forest. George Cuvier, a famous French naturalist, even declared that the teeth were from an ancient rhinoceros, though to be fair this announcement was at a party. He renounced the analysis the next morning, but only the rhinoceros claim made it out to public circles.

Two years later Megalosaurus was officially described by William Buckland, another big name in the early days of paleontology. Now with one other enormous reptile known, Dr. Mantell was able to show his unusual teeth to Mr. Buckland, and this time it was agreed that they belonged to an enormous reptile, though he denied it being an herbivore.

Encouraged, Dr. Mantell again sent the teeth to Cuvier, who officially admitted his earlier mistake and determined that the teeth were indeed reptilian and possibly a giant herbivore. Mantell and his new saurian were immediately seen with new respect in scientific circles.

This was greatly encouraging for Dr. Mantell, and he searched archives for a possible modern comparison to further prove his theory of a giant reptilian herbivore. After much searching and with a little help, the teeth of an iguana were found to be a close match. Mantell wanted to name the creature Iguanasaurus (iguana lizard), but it is always good to listen to the advice of good friends. Since the name Iguanasaurus can also be used to describe the literal Iguana lizard, the names Iguanoides (iguana-like) or Iguanodon (iguana tooth) were suggested.

February 10th, 1825, Dr. Mantell published his official description and naming of Iguanodon.

Of course many of us are familiar with how the story goes from there. How the mysterious spike was thought to be on the animal’s nose before it was firmly placed on the hand. The famous dinner that was held inside the statue-in-progress before it was completed and joined the great menagerie of prehistoric beasts at the Crystal Palace…

In 1878 an entire herd of beautifully preserved Iguanodon was discovered, and one of the first dinosaur skeletons was mounted for display with a new, upright posture like that of a kangaroo.

Over time, Iguanodon continues to change in our mind’s eye as new fossils are found, or old fossils are studied with fresh eyes.

I wonder what Gideon Mantell would think of all the amazing discoveries we have made, and how our understanding of these ancient animals has grown over the years. Imagine his wonder at the cultural phenomenon dinosaurs have become!

Dinosaurs inspire the imagination in so many wonderful ways! I would love to hear about what they mean for you. A question that inspired an entire documentary (which I have yet to see and really, really want to see)

Why dinosaurs?

See you tomorrow for day 10 of the Critter Christmas Countdown!