Dino card No. 0145 of 2,027

Aralosaurus

Say it: ah-RAH-loh-SORE-us

Name means: “Aral Sea lizard”1

Ate: PlantsDuck-billsLate Cretaceous

Aralosaurus was a duck-billed dinosaur that lived in what is now Kazakhstan. It had a hollow bump on its nose that might have helped it make sounds to talk to other dinosaurs.1

Lived

86 to 72 million years ago2

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Shakh-Shakh locality, Bostobe Formation, Kazakhstan2 1

Food

Plants2 1

Length

6.5 m1

estimate based on an immature specimen

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 6 dogs nose to tailas long as 36 bananas end to end

How big was Aralosaurus compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Aralosaurus lived about 83.6 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.1

Its name means 'Aral Sea lizard' because it was found northeast of the Aral Sea.1

Only one species is known: Aralosaurus tuberiferus, which means 'bearing a tuber' because of a bump on its nose.1

Scientists used to think Aralosaurus was a hadrosaurine, but later studies showed it is a lambeosaurine with a hollow crest.1

The skull of Aralosaurus is about 65 centimeters long, and the whole dinosaur was about 6.5 meters long.1

Aralosaurus is one of the most primitive lambeosaurines, and it is closely related to Canardia from France.1

The Bostobe Formation where Aralosaurus was found was a warm, subtropical floodplain near an ancient sea.1

AI-made picture of Aralosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Aralosaurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Aralosaurus

?How big was Aralosaurus?

About 6.5 metres (21 feet) long, based on its skull length of about 65 centimetres (26 inches).1

?What did Aralosaurus eat?

As a hadrosaur (duck-billed dinosaur), it was a plant-eater. It likely ate tough plants like cycads, ferns, and conifers.1

?When did Aralosaurus live?

It lived about 83.6 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.1

?Why did Aralosaurus have a bump on its nose?

The bump was a hollow crest that connected to its breathing passages. It probably helped Aralosaurus make sounds to communicate with other dinosaurs.1

Ask Rex about Aralosaurus

Rex only answers questions about this page. 3 questions a day.

Rex is an AI and can make mistakes. He runs on servers in the EU and questions are never saved. Never type your name or other personal things.

Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Aralosaurus had a solid bony crest like a hadrosaurine.

Truth: Actually, Aralosaurus had a hollow crest on its nose that was part of its respiratory system, like other lambeosaurines.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Aralosaurus
Named by: Rozhdestvensky 19682
Group: Duck-bills
Family / clade: Hadrosauridae2
Classification: Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia > Hadrosauridae2
Age of the rocks: 86 to 72 million years (Santonian / Campanian)2
Rock formations: Bostobe2
Countries: Kazakhstan2
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database2
Discovery: Aralosaurus was discovered in 1957 during a Soviet expedition in central Kazakhstan, and named by Anatoly Rozhdestvensky in 1968.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure about the exact shape and size of the hollow crest on Aralosaurus's nose, because the fossil is broken.1

Where the facts come from

Aralosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Aralosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

Rex is hungry! Dino Wiki is a dad's project for his dino-loving son, free with no ads. Grown-ups can feed Rex a snack to help keep it online.Feed Rex