Name:
Muttaburrasaurus (Greek for "Muttaburra lizard"); pronounced MOO-tah-BUH-ruh-SORE-us
Habitat:
Woodlands of Australia
Historical Period:
Middle Cretaceous (110-100 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
About 30 feet long and 3 tons
Diet:
Plants
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Streamlined torso; powerful jaws
About Muttaburrasaurus:
It only takes one look at Muttaburrasaurus to see that it was closely related to Iguanodon: both herbivores share the slender, low-slung, stiff-tailed posture characteristic of these ornithopods. Thanks to the discovery of an almost-complete skeleton, paleontologists know more about the head of Muttaburrasaurus than that of other iguanodonts; it was equipped with powerful jaws and teeth, adaptations to this dinosaur's tough vegetable diet, and its strange muzzle may have been used to create honking sounds.
Muttaburrasaurus has an especially high profile in Australia, since (along with Minmi, a small ankylosaur) it's one of the few complete dinosaur skeletons to be unearthed Down Under.
