Tenontosaurus tilletti
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(ten-on-to-sor-uhss)
"tendon lizard"
Describer Brown vide Chure & McIntosh, 1989
Also Known As --
Type of Species
Order Ornithischia
SubOrder Cerapoda
InfraOrder Ornithopoda
Micro-Order --
Family Tenontosauridae
Size 23 feet (7 meters) long
Period Early Cretaceous, 116 million years ago
Fossilsite Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Texas. Oklahoma, USA
Diet Herbivore
Tenontosaurus
was a quadrupedal herbivore that lived during the Early Cretaceous Period
about 105 million years ago, in what is known today as Montana, and Wyoming,
USA. Tenontosaurus tilletti was described by Ostrom, in 1970. Most of
the tendons on ornithopod dinosaurs are strong along their backbone and
hip regions. On Tenontosaurus these tendons were so well developed that
they inspired the dinosaur's name.
These tendons were ossified and arranged in bundles that ran parallel to the spine. As a result, the spine of this dinosaur became very stiff. This would have helped the dinosaur to support its weight across its hips. Deinonychus was Tenontosaurus main enemy. The teeth of this predator have been found along side the remains of Tenontosaurus. It is believed by some scientists that Deinonychus hunted the larger animal in packs, but there is a lack of evidence to support this.
There is still debate about the proper classification of this dinosaur, some maintain that it was an advanced hypsilophodontid, while others argue that it was an early iguanodontid. It seems as Tenontosaurus may have been a transitory form between the smaller ornithopods, such as Dryosaurus, which evolved in the Jurassic Period, and the larger ornithopods, such as Iguanodon, which arose during the Cretaceous Period.
