Ornithopods

Australian Ornithopods

All Australian ornithopods were bipedal (walked on two legs), but many larger ornithopods from other parts of the world sometimes walked on four legs.

They were small to very large in size.

Small ornithopods were fast runners.

0.5 meters to
3.2 meters

Estimated hip height.

3 meters to 7.5 meters

Estimated lengths (approximately).

Ornithopod tracks in the Broome Sandstone show that their trackmakers walked on the very tips of their toes, which were blunt with hoof-like claws.

Four ornithopod track types have been found on the Dinosaur Coast.

Wintonopus latomorum (‘the stonemasons’ Winton foot’)
Wintonopus middletonae (‘Middleton’s Winton foot’)
Wintonopus Walmadanyichus hunteri (‘Hunter’s Winton footmark of Walmadany’)
Amblydactylus cf. A kortmeyeri (‘Kortmeyer’s dull digit’) (A ‘cf.’ in front of an ichnotaxon name means that the track looks like that type of track but is probably different. It is too poorly known to be sure).

Well known ornithopods

Iguanodon
Leaellynasaura amicagraphica (in Australia) and
Muttaburrasaurus langdoni (in Australia).

What did Ornithopods look like?

Palaeontologists examine clues that extinct dinosaurs have left behind, found in fossils and evidence of animal activity, such as footprints and trackways. This is what ‘Broome’ ornithopods may have looked like.

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