Australia's strangest dinosaur packed a bumpy nose and a deadly thumb spike!
A beak and a strange, bulging nose made Muttaburrasaurus an odd-looking dinosaur. Muttaburrasaurus is the most complete dinosaur fossil found so far in Australia, and belonged to the same group as Iguanodon, another famous dinosaur.
In structure, Muttaburrasaurus is very similar to Iguanodon. They probably come from the same group of dinosaurs, the iguanodonts. But unlike Muttaburrasaurus, which has only been found in Australia, Iguanodon is a common dinosaur. Its remains have been found all around the world.
Muttaburrasaurus was named for the place it was first discovered—Muttaburra in Queensland, Australia. Although Australia is almost as large as the United States, very few dinosaurs have been found there.
The bony ridge on Muttaburrasaurus's nose looks very similar to the bumpy noses of the hadrosaurs Kritosaurus and Maiasaura.
Source: Microsoft Dinosaurs (1993) CD-ROM. Text liberated from original screen art; images & audio restored from disc. Original media is Microsoft/supplier copyright — non-commercial educational preservation. Credits & Acknowledgements