Dino card No. 1591 of 2,027

Saurolophus

Say it: saw-ROL-oh-fus

Name means: “lizard crest”1

Ate: PlantsDuck-billsLate Cretaceous

Saurolophus was a big, plant-eating dinosaur with a duck-like beak and a pointy crest on its head. It lived near the end of the Age of Dinosaurs in North America and Asia, and could walk on two legs or all fours.1

Lived

84 to 66 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Alberta, Canada; Mongolia; and Wyoming, USA1 4

Length

9 to 12 m (30 to 39 ft)1

about 9 to 12 meters long, based on related hadrosaurs

Weight

2 tonnes to 5 tonnes (4,400 to 11,000 lb)1

Height

3 to 4 m (9.8 to 13 ft)1

at the hips

Top speed

about 24 km/h (15 mph)

Running, estimate

What did Saurolophus eat?

Saurolophus was a herbivore, eating plants like conifer needles, twigs, and seeds. It had a toothless beak and hundreds of cheek teeth for grinding tough plant material.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How tall was it?

at the hips

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 3 cars

as long as 2.5 cars parked in a rowas long as 67 bananas end to endabout as heavy as an elephantas heavy as 1000 watermelonsas heavy as 6 whole school classes of kidsas heavy as 11 polar bearscould run 100 metres in 15 seconds (the fastest human needs 9.6)

How big was Saurolophus compared to YOU?

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

How fast was it?

A person walking about 5 km/h (3 mph)

A kid on a bike about 12 km/h (7 mph)

Saurolophus about 24 km/h (15 mph)

A galloping horse about 65 km/h (40 mph)

A cheetah about 100 km/h (62 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

Saurolophus is one of the few dinosaurs known from both North America and Asia, which suggests they could cross land bridges.1

The first nearly complete dinosaur skeleton ever found in Canada was a Saurolophus, discovered in 1911.1

A huge bonebed in Mongolia called Dragon's Tomb contains at least 21 Saurolophus individuals, showing they lived in groups.1

Its teeth were packed into dental batteries, with hundreds of teeth that were constantly replaced, so it could chew tough plants.1

Saurolophus could reach food up to about 4 meters (13 feet) above the ground, thanks to its long neck and body.1

The crest on its head was a solid spike, not a hollow tube like in some other duck-billed dinosaurs.1

AI-made picture of Saurolophus — An AI-made picture of how Saurolophus 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 Saurolophus

?How big was Saurolophus?

Saurolophus osborni was about 8.2 to 8.5 meters (27 to 28 feet) long, while the larger Mongolian species S. angustirostris reached about 12 to 13 meters (39 to 43 feet) long and weighed up to 11 tonnes (12 short tons).1 2

?What did Saurolophus eat?

Saurolophus was a herbivore, eating plants like conifer needles, twigs, and seeds. It had a toothless beak and hundreds of cheek teeth for grinding tough plant material.1 3

?Did Saurolophus have a crest?

Yes, Saurolophus had a distinctive spike-like crest on its head, made of nasal bones, which pointed up and back. It may have been used for display or heat regulation.1

?Could Saurolophus swim?

The sources do not say Saurolophus could swim. It was a land dinosaur that could walk on two legs or all fours, but no swimming adaptations are mentioned.1 3

?When did Saurolophus live?

Saurolophus lived during the Late Cretaceous, about 71.5 to 66 million years ago.1 2

?Where was Saurolophus found?

Saurolophus fossils have been found in North America (Canada, USA) and Asia (Mongolia, China). It is one of the few dinosaurs known from multiple continents.1 2

?Was Saurolophus a dinosaur?

Yes, Saurolophus was a dinosaur, specifically a hadrosaurid (duck-billed) dinosaur. It was an ornithopod, a plant-eating dinosaur.1 2

?Did Saurolophus live in herds?

Yes, evidence from a bonebed called Dragon's Tomb in Mongolia suggests Saurolophus lived in groups, with at least 21 individuals found together.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Saurolophus could swim in the ocean.

Truth: It lived near rivers and lakes, but it was a land animal that walked and ate plants on land.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Saurolophus
Named by: Brown 19124
Group: Duck-bills
Family / clade: Hadrosauridae4
Classification: Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia > Hadrosauridae4
Age of the rocks: 84 to 66 million years (Campanian / Maastrichtian)4
Rock formations: Nemegt, Horseshoe Canyon, Almond4
Countries: Mongolia, Canada, USA4
Fossil records: 38 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Barnum Brown named Saurolophus in 1912 from a nearly complete skeleton found in Alberta, Canada, in 1911.1
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether some fossils from California and Wyoming belong to Saurolophus or to a separate genus.1

Where the facts come from

Saurolophus (en.wikipedia.org)
Saurolophus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Saurolophus- Enchanted Learning Software (web.archive.org)
Saurolophus 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.

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