Dinosaurs died out around 65 million years ago, so it’s easy to forget that they once lived right here on our planet. The countryside would have looked very different back then, but these giant creatures walked, ate and slept under the same sun, moon and stars that we do. Even more excitingly, lots of dinosaur fossils have been found right here in England and Wales!
Here are three of the species to be discovered on our shores.
Iguanodon
The iguanodon was 10 metres long and weighed four tons. At the end of each of its hands was a large thumb spike for fighting any predators off. Its fossils have been found not just in England, but Belgium too! Its name is pronounced ig-WAH-no-don, which means ‘iguana tooth’.
Cetiosaurus
This super-sized herbivore lived between 160 and 170 million years ago, and could grow up to 18 metres in length – that’s almost one and a half times as long as a London bus! Its name is pronounced see-TEE-oh-saurus, which means ‘whale lizard’.
Megalosaurus
This menacing meat-eater wasn’t as big as a T-Rex, but it was still powerful enough to hunt down smaller, slower dinosaurs. It was also the very first dinosaur in the world to be given a name by scientists! Megalosaurus is pronounced MEG-a-lo-saurus, and means ‘big lizard’.
Top tip! Stay at YHA Boggle Hole or YHA Sheringham to go fossil-hunting on the beach. You never know what you might find…
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