Dino card No. 1373 of 2,015

Parasaurolophus

Say it: PAIR-uh-saw-ROL-uh-fus

Name means: “beside crested lizard”1

Ate: PlantsDuck-billsLate Cretaceous

Parasaurolophus was a duck-billed dinosaur with a long, curved crest on its head. It lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 77 to 73 million years ago. This plant-eater could walk on two legs or all fours.2 1

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Alberta, Canada, and New Mexico and Utah, USA3 1

Food

Plants2 1

Length

9 m2

Weight

5 tonnes2

Artist's life restoration of Parasaurolophus — How Parasaurolophus may have looked, by Connor Ashbridge. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Scientists still argue about colours and details.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Parasaurolophus had a huge, hollow crest on its head that was shaped like a long tube. Scientists think it may have used the crest to make sounds like a trumpet.1

It had a beak like a duck and cheeks to hold food while chewing. Its teeth were constantly replaced, with hundreds packed together in a 'dental battery'.2 1

Parasaurolophus could walk on two legs or on all fours. It probably spent most of its time on all fours but could stand on its back legs when needed.2

Three species are known: P. walkeri, P. tubicen, and P. cyrtocristatus. P. tubicen was the largest and had the longest, straightest crest.1

The first Parasaurolophus fossil was found in 1920 near Sand Creek in Alberta, Canada. It was named in 1922 by William Parks.1

Parasaurolophus lived in a warm, swampy environment near the shore of a huge inland sea that split North America in two.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Parasaurolophus
Named by: Parks 19223
Group: Duck-bills
Family / clade: Hadrosauridae3
Classification: Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia > Hadrosauridae3
Age of the rocks: 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)3
Rock formations: Kirtland, Dinosaur Park, Fruitland3
Countries: USA, Canada3
Fossil records: 20 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The first Parasaurolophus fossil, a skull and partial skeleton, was found in 1920 by a University of Toronto field party near Sand Creek in Alberta, Canada. William Parks named it Parasaurolophus walkeri in 1922.1
Still debated: Scientists debate whether the different crest shapes belong to separate species or are just males and females of the same species.1

Where the facts come from

Parasaurolophus (en.wikipedia.org)
Parasaurolophus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Parasaurolophus 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.