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Armoured Dinosaurs and the Iguanodon: Dinosaurs

Illustration lent by H. R. Knipe (from Nebula to Man). DINOSAURS feet in length. It will be seen that the fore limbs are small in comparison to the hind limbs. A remarkable feature of the hand is the large pointed bone at the end of the thumb, forming a kind of spur. The conical shape of this bone found by Dr. Mantell, who had no clue to its place in the skeleton, led him to suppose that it was a horn answering to that of a rhinoceros-a conclusion which Professor Owen refused for various reasons to accept. The latter concluded that it belonged to the hand, and now we see FIG. 55. Skull and skeleton of Iguanodon Mantelli. (After Dollo.) that he was right. It has been suggested that the spur was a weapon of offence, and that, when attacked, an Iguanodon may have seized its aggressor in its short arms, and made use of the spur as a dagger. But this is only conjecture, and perhaps the spur may have been useful in seizing and pulling down the foliage and branches of trees, or in grubbing them up by the roots. Detached specimens of this curious bone may be seen among the other remains of Iguanodon at South Kensington, and also some of the gigantic tracks already alluded to. A complete cast of a skeleton may be seen in the reptile gallery of the Natural History Museum.