The Online Library of Knowledge

Dinosaur species

You are here: Prehistoric > Dinosaur species > Parasaurolophus

Read Aloud and Word Lookup functions are available for subscribers

Parasaurolophus

ParasaurolophusParasaurolophusParasaurolophusParasaurolophus was a hadrosaur, a duck-billed dinosaur, that lived in North America in the Late Cretaceous Period. Like all duck-bills, its face was elongated into a flattened snout with a toothless beak. It had long hindlegs, shorter forelegs with hooves and fleshy pads on its hands and a wide, stiffened tail. Its skin had a pebbly texture. Parasaurolophus's most distinctive feature was its long, bony, hollow crest, curving backwards from the top of the skull. Including the crest, its skull was 1.8 metres (6 feet) long—the height of an adult human.

Lifestyle

Parasaurolophus covering its nest with rotting vegetation to keep its eggs warmParasaurolophus covering its nest with vegetationParasaurolophus covering its nest with rotting vegetation to keep its eggs warmLike all duck-bills, Parasaurolophus had batteries of cheek teeth which it used to chew the vegetation it fed on before swallowing it. A herding animal, it may have migrated to higher land to build its nests on the ground—probably in large colonies—and lay its eggs. Parasaurolophus foraged for food walking around on four legs, but, if forced to escape from predators, it ran on its two hindlegs.

This cross-section through Parasaurolophus’s skull shows its cheek teeth, its large eye sockets and the extended nasal passages running up inside its long, curved crest. The passages formed four long tubes.Cross-section through Parasaurolophus’s skullThis cross-section through Parasaurolophus’s skull shows its cheek teeth, its large eye sockets and the extended nasal passages running up inside its long, curved crest. The passages formed four long tubes.

Nasal tubes

back to top

Let's Explore

Q-files now has new sections specially written for younger readers. They are: Living world, Earth, Science, Human body, Prehistoric life, Space, History, Geography and Technology.

go to LET'S EXPLORE

Q-files.com is certified by the kidSAFE Seal Program.

Dinosaur species

CITE

Parasaurolophus

Lifestyle

Nasal tubes

Parasaurolophus means “near-crested lizard”. It refers to another dinosaur, Saurolophus (“crested lizard”) which, at the time of discovery, it was thought to resemble.