Mantellodon Facts

Mantellodon was a large ornithopod dinosaur that roamed the landscapes of Early Cretaceous Europe between 143 and 121 million years ago. Originally described as a separate genus, it is now recognised by most palaeontologists as being the same animal as Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis, which was itself once classified as a species of the famous Iguanodon.

This impressive herbivore measured around 8 metres in length and stood approximately 2.5 metres tall at the hip, weighing roughly 2.5 tonnes. Mantellodon was more lightly built than its close relative Iguanodon, with longer limbs and a more gracile skeleton that likely made it a faster and more agile runner. Its fossils have been discovered across Europe, including sites in England, Belgium, Spain, and Germany.

As a herbivore, Mantellodon possessed the typical ornithopod features for plant processing: a duck-like beak for cropping vegetation, rows of grinding teeth for breaking down tough plant material, and large jaw muscles for powerful chewing. Like other iguanodontians, it probably had the distinctive thumb spike that characterised this group, though it was smaller and less prominent than in Iguanodon.

The dinosaur could move both on two legs when running and on all fours when feeding or walking slowly. Its hands were well-adapted for both locomotion and food gathering, whilst its long tail helped to balance its body whether moving bipedally or quadrupedally through the fern prairies and coniferous forests of Cretaceous Europe.