It was the very early discovery of three specific dinosaur fossils that prompted a whole new group of animal to be recognized and classified as unique species by the scientific community. This special animal was no other than the famed dinosaur and before these three dinosaur fossils are discussed here. It must be stated first that people have been coming across dinosaur fossils for hundreds, even thousands of years in some instances. What was described as being "dragon-like" bones was found in Wucheng, Sichuan, China more than 2,000 years ago. The discovery of these obvious early dinosaur bones was recorded by Chang Qu. Many ancient Greeks and Romans also found their own dinosaur fossilized bones which were the very thing that fueled the legends of there being ogres and griffins. As we continue down the dinosaur trail of history, the next find was that of a massive femur bone, which happened in England in 1676. The fossilized bone was found by Reverend Plot and was thought to be the leg bone of a giant. However, it had to be another dinosaur bone discovery, and this time an official report of it was published in 1763 by R. Brookes. From a scientific perspective, the very first dinosaur, who was described in a scientific manner, was no other than the Megalosaurus. These species of dinosaur were given its name by William Buckland in 1824. William Buckland was a clergyman and a devout fossil hunter that discovered a collection of fossils. The official scientific name that was assigned by Gideon Mantell and this name is no other than Megalosaurus bucklandii. The Megalosaurus dinosaur was the first of the theropod dinosaurs ever. This description came about despite the fact that the word "dinosaur" still not yet had been born and neither was the specific taxonomic group that separated dinosaurs as a genus from other creatures. Some of the other dinosaur fossil finds that were quite early was the discovery of the dinosaur species known as the Iguanodon by Gideon Mantell in 1822. The Iguanodon was described as being an animal that had an actual duck bill and was a plant eater. The discovery of this dinosaur's teeth and a couple of bones was made in Sussex, England. Gideon Mantell was also an avid fossil hunter in Britain and he would go on to name other dinosaur species such as the Hylaeosaurus in 1833 and others to follow. The Hylaeosaurus was another dinosaur that ate plants and had an armored covering about it. Dinosaurs did not officially get their name as a specific taxonomic group until 1841. The official name of "Dinosauria" was originally derived from the Greek word of "deinos" and the Greek word "sauros". The Greek word "deinos" stands for being great in a fearful way and "sauros" stands for lizards. It was Sir Richard Owen who gave this group of extinct reptiles the name of "Dinosauria". This is what placed them into a suborder of mammoth creatures that were no longer roaming the earth. Sir Richard Owen was a well-known and respected anatomist who was the first to notice the similarities that did exist between the three early dinosaur fossil discoveries which were the Megalosaurus, the Iguanodon, and the Hylaeosaurus. The identifying characteristics that all three of these dinosaur varieties had in common were their legs, which were like columns in description, and their five-sectioned vertebrae that were joined to their pelvic girdle region. Some American dinosaur discoveries that took place first happened in 1787 with the discovery of a leg bone by Dr. Caspar Wistar in Gloucester County, New Jersey. Another famed discovery took place on John Hopkins farm in Haddonfield, New Jersey in 1838. This discovery was made by a man named William Parker Foulke. His fossil find was an almost complete fossilized skeleton of a dinosaur. Paleontologists continue to unearth remains of different species of dinosaurs even today. The great exploration into these extinct yet captivating creatures goes on and will go on well into the future. There may be countless types of dinosaurs waiting out there to be eagerly discovered and added to the living pages of dinosaur history. The Discovery and history of dinosaurs to know is still an unwritten page in adventure that is still in the works. Dinosaur discovery and history goes on!