The most complete dinosaur fossil ever found was discovered in the surrounds of the geographical centre of Queensland, the tiny town of Muttaburra, The Muttabuttasaurus is an ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaur belonging to the sub-order ornithopoda (bird foot). It is related to the family Iguanodonitdae, which were found on many continents.
However, the Muttabuttasaurus is unique to outback Queensland and the east of Australia.
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A grazier, Mr Douglas Langdon, who was riding his horse in the channels in search of stray cattle after the annual wet season, first discovered the fossilized bones of this dinosaur in 1963 near the small central western Queensland town of Muttaburra.
Whilst his horse was drinking at one of the waterholes he noticed that the large rocks near by looked like bones and he alerted the QLD museum with news of the find.
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A field team spent some time in the area and eventually 19 crates of material was sent to the Brisbane Museum. The hooves of cattle had damaged some of the bone and some of the tailbones were missing but this is the most complete dinosaur fossil found, as yet, in Australia.
A distinctive feature of the Muttaburrasaurus skeleton is an inflated hollow boney roof over the snout in front of the eyes which may have assited the creature to advertise its presence over a large area and distance. The front of the mouth lacks teeth and was probably developed as a horny beak like that of most onithopods, but rows of teeth differ. Because of this it is thought that while the Muttabuttasaurus was predominantly a plant eater it may also have been partly carnivorous.
