The Isle of Wight is internationally famous for its dinosaur remains. Fossils and dinosaur trackways have been found here for a considerable period of time; although it is only since early Victorian scientists and amateur collectors started to analyze and discuss them that it was truly known what they were. Many different types of dinosaurs have been identified already, and more mysterious remains are yet to be determined. Over 120 million years ago the environment on the Isle of Wight was just right to support a rich biodiversity, from the smallest bacteria and insects, living in ferns, cycads and large conifers, to the giant dinosaurs and soaring pterosaurs. At the top of the food-chain were the large meat-eating dinosaurs like Neovenator and Baryonyx.
The Dinosaur section of our website is currently undergoing considerable changes, which will continue over the next few months; please bear with us while these alterations take place. We aim to provide a lot more information than was previously published on the website, and to make the information available at a range of levels to suit many interests. This may take a while but we hope that you will like the results as they appear. You may notice that on some of our pages we have abbreviated the names so that for example Iguanodon bernissartensis becomes I. bernissartensis, and as scientific names they should also be written in italics.
Dinosaurs are divided into two major groups: the Ornithischia (‘bird-hipped’) and the Saurischia (‘lizard-hipped’), because of the arrangement of their hip bones.Despite their name, the Ornithischia are not closely related to birds, but it is thought that birds evolved from a saurischian ancestor! The Ornithischia contains a number of groups: the Ornithopoda (‘bird-footed’) the Marginocephalia (‘margin headed’) and the Thyreophora (‘shield-bearers’), which were all herbivorous. The Saurischia contains the carnivorous Theropoda (‘beast-footed’) and the herbivorous Sauropodomorpha. All of these groups are represented on the Isle of Wight.
There are around 15 species of dinosaur currently recognised from the Isle of Wight. Here are some facts about the best-known of them.
Dinosaurs Homepage Iguanodon Hypsilophodon Valdosaurus Neovenator Eotyrannus Sauropodomorpha Polacanthus Baryonyx FAQ's
Dinosaurs Homepage Iguanodon Hypsilophodon Valdosaurus Neovenator Eotyrannus Sauropodomorpha Polacanthus Baryonyx
