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Maiasaura

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Dinosaurs

      iMaiasaura peeblesorum

                        Fossil range: Late Cretaceous

   Maiasaur with hatchlings, at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center
   Maiasaur with hatchlings, at the Wyoming Dinosaur Centre

                             Conservation status

   Extinct (fossil)
                  Scientific classification

   Kingdom:     Animalia
   Phylum:      Chordata
   Class:       Sauropsida
   Superorder:  Dinosauria
   Order:       Ornithischia
   Suborder:    Ornithopoda
   Infraorder:  Iguanodontia
   Superfamily: Hadrosauroidea
   Family:      Hadrosauridae
   Subfamily:   Hadrosaurinae
   Tribe:       Maiasaurini
   Genus:       Maiasaura
                Horner & Makela, 1979
   Species:     M. peeblesorum

                                Binomial name

   Maiasaura peeblesorum
   Horner & Makela, 1979

   Maiasaura peeblesorum ("Peebles' good mother lizard") is a large
   duck-billed dinosaur species that lived in Montana in the Upper
   Cretaceous Period ( Campanian), about 74 million years ago.

Discovery

   Maiasaura was discovered by dinosaur paleontologist Jack Horner
   (paleontologic advisor for the Jurassic Park movies). He named the
   dinosaur after finding a series of nests with remains of eggshells and
   hatchlings. This was the first proof of giant dinosaurs raising and
   feeding their young. Over 200 specimens, in all age ranges, have been
   found.

Characteristics

   Right femur of Maiasaura.
   Enlarge
   Right femur of Maiasaura.

   Maiasaura had a strange appearance. It was large (about 7 meters long)
   and it had the typical hadrosaurid flat beak and a thick nose. It had a
   small, spiky crest in front of its eyes. The form of the head resembled
   that of a horse.

   This dinosaur was herbivorous. It walked both on two ( bipedal) or four
   ( quadrupedal) legs and appeared to have no defense against predators,
   except, perhaps, its heavy muscular tail and its herd behaviour.

   It lived in herds and it raised its young in nesting colonies. The
   nests, containing 30 to 40 eggs, were made of earth and were guarded by
   the parents (parental care). The eggs were about the size of ostrich
   eggs, so the hatchlings had to grow fast.

   Maiasaura lived alongside the ceratopsid Centrosaurus, the tank-like
   Euoplocephalus and an earlier relative of Tyrannosaurus rex,
   Daspletosaurus torosus. It was among the latest dinosaur species to
   evolve, prior to the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction of 65 million years
   ago.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiasaura"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
