Parasaurolophus
"Beside Saurolophus (Crested Lizard)"

ANATOMY
Parasaurolophus was a long-crested, duck-billed dinosaur. Its extremely long, backwards-leaning, hollow, bony crest was
as bigger than the rest of its skull and may have been used to produce low-frequency, foghorn-like sounds, enhance its
sense of smell, and/or used in courtship displays. The Parasaurolophus' nostrils (at the end of its snout) went up through
the crest and back down it, forming four tubes. The crest was up to 6 feet (1.8 m) long. Its snout was narrow and
shorter than other hadrosaur snouts. There may have been sex differences in the length of the crest; males may have had
longer crests. Parasaurolophus also had a notch in its back, right where the crest would touch the back when its head
leaned backwards.

Parasaurolophus grew to be about 33 feet long (10 m) and 16 feet (5 m) tall. It weighed about 3 to 4 tons. It had
pebbly-textured skin, a spoon-shaped beak, and a pointy tail. It may have had webbed fingers, giving it a mitten-like
hand, but some paleontologists argue that the web-like fossilized hands are an artfact of the fossilization process. Its sight
and hearing were keen, but it had no natural defenses. It had a toothless, horny beak and numerous cheek teeth.

~ Click on the links below to read more about these dinosaurs ~

Click here to return to the Dinosaur Menu
Daniel Berry