 British palaeontologist David Bruce Norman has stressed how remarkable it is that Owen, who previously had propounded that dinosaurs were active quadrupedal animals, largely neglected Scelidosaurus though it could serve as a prime example of this hypothesis and its fossil was one of the most complete dinosaurs found at that time. Norman explained this by Owen's excessive workload in this period, including several administrative functions, polemics with fellow-scientists and the study of a large number of even more interesting newly discovered extinct animals, such as Archaeopteryx. Norman also pointed out that Owen in 1861 suggested a lifestyle for Scelidosaurus that is very different from present ideas: it would have been a fish-eater and partially sea-dwelling.
