Dakotadon
Dakotadon was a plant-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now South Dakota, USA, about 137 to 132 million years ago. It had a long, low skull and walked on two legs or all fours, using its beak to snip leaves and branches.12
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Fun facts
Dakotadon was first thought to be a species of Iguanodon, but in 2008 scientist Gregory S. Paul gave it its own genus name.1
The only known fossil of Dakotadon is a partial skull and some vertebrae, found by a family who kept it in their garage for years.1
Dakotadon had a long, low skull with large nostril openings and a deep maxillary process of the premaxilla, making it more primitive than other iguanodonts.2
Scientists are not sure exactly how old the Dakotadon fossil is, but it likely lived during the late Valanginian to early Barremian stages of the Early Cretaceous.1
The name Dakotadon honors the Lakota people and the Dakota region where the fossil was discovered.1
Dakotadon's skull shows it had 19 tooth positions in its upper jaw, which is fewer than some related dinosaurs.2
Most asked questions about Dakotadon
?How big was Dakotadon?
About 6 metres (20 ft) long and weighed around 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons).1
?What did Dakotadon eat?
It was a plant-eater, using its beak to snip leaves and branches.1
?Is Dakotadon a dinosaur?
Yes, it is a genus of iguanodont dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous.1
?When did Dakotadon live?
It lived about 137 to 132 million years ago, during the late Valanginian to early Barremian stages of the Early Cretaceous.1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Dakotadon
- Named by
- Paul 20083
- Group
- Beaked plant-eaters
- Family / clade
- Styracosterna3
- Classification
- Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia3
- Age of the rocks
- 137 to 133 million years (Valanginian)3
- Rock formations
- Lakota3
- Countries
- USA3
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
- Discovery
- The fossil was found by Louis Rossow in South Dakota in the 1980s and later donated to the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. It was named Iguanodon lakotaensis in 1989 by David B. Weishampel and Philip R. Bjork, and renamed Dakotadon by Gregory S. Paul in 2008.1
- Still debated
- Scientists still debate exactly where Dakotadon fits in the dinosaur family tree, because only a partial skull and some vertebrae have been found.12
Where the facts come from
- Dakotadon (en.wikipedia.org)
- doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2007.04.009 (gspauldino.com)
- Dakotadon in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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