What Happened to the Dinosaurs?

2. When Was the First Dinosaur Found?

The first actual documented evidence of dinosaurs came in 1822 when Mary Ann Mantell discovered some large teeth. At the time, she and her husband, Gideon, thought that they were the remains of a gigantic iguana. Twenty years after that, a scientist named Richard Owen realized that the teeth were different from that of an iguana. Therefore, if they weren't the remains of a large iguana, what could they be? While that was happening in Britain, the U.S. had its own evidence to show, too. Scientists discovered massive footprints that they believed belonged to birds when, in fact, they belonged to dinosaurs.