Iguanodon has played an important role in both scientific and cultural settings since it was discovered in the early 19th century. In 1842 anatomist Richard Owen coined the term dinosaur, based on common characteristics among Iguanodon, Megalosaurus and a fossil Mantell described in 1833, Hylaeosaurus.
In 1852 the Crystal Palace Company commissioned English sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins to build a collection of life-sized models of ancient animals for display at London’s Crystal Palace. During construction, a banquet was held at which the dinner party ate inside the half-completed sculpture of an Iguanodon.
A century later, Iguanodon was again combined with two other creatures, this time to create a fictional animal; Japanese movie makers merged elements of Iguanodon, Stegosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus in making the Godzilla.
The person responsible for bringing Iguanodon to the attention of the world was an Englishman by the name of Gideon Mantell.
Gideon Mantell, Physician and Naturalist
Gideon Algernon Mantell was born February 3, 1790 in Lewes, England. He was the 5th of six children of Thomas and Sarah Austen. Starting around the age of 15, Gideon began a five-year medical apprenticeship, with local surgeon James Moore serving as his master.
Mantell later attended the Royal College of Surgeons in London, graduating in 1811. He then returned to Lewes and partnered with Moore in a country medical practice. Mantell worked long hours but still found time to spend on his growing passions of geology and paleontology. In 1815 he published his first natural history paper, describing the fossils found in Lewes.
The following year Mantell opened his own medical practice and also married Mary Ann Woodhouse, the daughter of a former patient. Mary Ann soon shared her husband’s passion for geology and paleontology and often accompanied him during both his medical rounds and fossil collecting trips.
Sometime around 1920 or 1921, Gideon or his wife made a discovery that has become a legend in the annals of the history of science, partly because of the significance of the discovery, partly because of the mythical nature of the incident.
Mantell Describes Iguanodon Based on Teeth and Bones
As one well-known version of the story goes, Mary Ann one day accompanied her husband on his medical rounds, visiting patients at their homes in the countryside. While waiting for Gideon to finish with one patient, she wandered down the road and noticed a pile of rocks, finding one containing an unusual tooth fragment.
She excitedly shared her find with Gideon, who was equally thrilled with this magnificent discovery. He determined it was from a previously unknown herbivorous creature and named it Iguanodon, the second dinosaur ever to be scientifically described.
A less romantic -- but more likely -- scenario has Mantell hiring a quarry worker to alert him of any unusual fossils he found at a quarry in the Tilgate Forest north of Cuckfield. The worker, a Mr. Leney, discovered many teeth and bones, prompting Mantell to personally examine the quarry. He made several trips, sometimes bringing along Mary Ann and other family members, finding more bones and teeth that he first thought came from an ancient crocodile but later attributed to his new creature he called Iguanodon.
No matter which story (or some further variation) is accurate, the discovery was important and galvanized Mantell to bring it to the attention of the scientific establishment.
In 1822 he showed the teeth to members of the Geological Society of London, who indicated they likely came from a fish. Mantell, not convinced of this identification, arranged for the eminent naturalist Georges Cuvier to examine the fossils. Cuvier dismissed the teeth as those of a rhinoceros. Mantell also corresponded with William Buckland, who in 1824 would name Megalosaurus, the first dinosaur scientifically described.
Mantell was not satisfied with these evaluations, thinking the fossils were not from a fish or mammal, but a reptile-like beast. He thus continued his quest for a proper identification and next visited the Hunterian Museum in London to examine their collections. While there he met a researcher named Samuel Stuchbury, who was then studying iguanas. Stuchbury agreed with Mantell that the bones were reptilian and noticed their resemblance to iguanas, though the fossils were much larger than typical modern iguanas.
In January Mantell, now sure that his specimens represented some sort of herbivorous reptile-like creature, wrote a description of the fossils and sent it to Davies Gilbert of the Royal Society. Mantell at first was going to call the fossil Iguana-saurus (“Iguana lizard”) but later went with Iguanodon (“Iguana tooth”). This name was suggested by his friend William Conybeare, who had also recommended the name Megalosaurus to Buckland.
Gilbert read Mantell’s account at the February 10, 1825 meeting of the Society, officially introducing Iguanodon to the scientific community.
Mantell didn’t give a specific name to the fossil; this was added in 1829 when Friedrich Holl introduced the name Iguanodon anglicum, later amended to I. anglicus. In 1834 Mantell acquired several Iguanodon bones from a quarry in Maidstone, allowing him to make the first skeletal reconstruction of the animal.
Mantell would go on to spend an increasing amount of time studying fossils, discovering many new species and making many important contributions to the scientific record. But he will always be most remembered for his untiring efforts in determining the true nature of Iguanodon.
Sources
Cadbury, Deborah. 2000. Terrible Lizard. Henry Holt & Co.
Dean, Dennis. 1999. Gideon Mantell and the Discovery of Dinosaurs. Cambridge University Press.
Kevin Schindler - I have worked at scientific institutions for more than 20 years written more than 200 articles about science, history, and baseball.
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