Ornithopod similar to Tenontosaurus (or-NITH-oh-pod; teh-NON-toe-SORE-us)

This ornithopod dinosaur was a medium-sized plant-eater similar to Camptosaurus and Tenontosaurus. Its remains are rare here, so we do not know a lot about the species. Based on the size of these bones and their similarity to better-known species, we estimate that it was about 4.5 meters (15 feet) long and weighed about a half-ton. Ornithopods of this kind had tightly packed teeth that were well-suited to slicing and chopping plant matter, allowing them to chew food more finely than many other herbivorous reptiles. They also had cheeks, a simple but important adaptation that many other dinosaurs lacked.