NAME

Meaning - Parasaurolophus means “like crested lizard”
Pronounced - PAR-a-saw-ROL-o-fus
Named By - William A. Parks
When Named - 1922
DIET

Herbivore (plant-eater)
SIZE

Length - 40 ft (12 m) long
Height - 9 ft (2.8 m) tall at the hips
Weight - about 2 tons
WHEN IT LIVED

Late Cretaceous period, about 76-65 million years ago
WHERE IT LIVED

Fossils have been found in western North America, in Alberta, Canada, and in New Mexico and Utah in the USA.
FOSSILS

Many skeletons and skulls have been found.
CLASSIFICATION
  • Kingdom Animalia (animals)
  • Phylum Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
  • Class Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
  • Order Ornithischia - bird-hipped dinosaurs
  • Suborder Ornithopoda
  • Infraorder Iguanodontia - having spiked thumbs
  • Superfamily Hadrosauroidea - duck-billed dinosaurs
  • Family Lambeosaurinae - crested duckbills
  • Genus Parasaurolophus
  • Species P. walkeri (type species named by Parks, 1922)
INTERESTING FACTS

Parasaurolophus had an elongated, bony crest on its head with which it may have made low-frequency, fog-horn-like sounds. The crest was up to 6 feet (1.8 m) long
LINKS

A detailed page on Parasaurolophus.
Parasaurolophus coloring/information printout
Parasaurolophus coloring printout
Parasaurolophus inteactive quiz