The word “parasaurolophus” comes from Greek roots. Break it into parts. The first part is pronounced like “parachute”. The second part is pronounced like “sauropod”. Put them together to say the whole word. Check out this video to hear the pronunciation. The name means “near crested lizard”. It has two Greek word roots: “para” for “near” and “sauros” for “lizard”. The first part is said like “pair-uh”. The second part is said like “saw-ROLL-uh-fuss”. The emphasis goes on the “ROLL”. So the whole thing sounds like “pair-uh-saw-ROW-luh-fuss”.
Still unsure? Don’t worry. Try breaking it into syllables. There are six of them: pa-ra-sau-ro-lo-phus. Say each one evenly. The “phus” at the end rhymes with “fuss”. Go ahead – give it a try! With practice, you’ll have the pronunciation down in no time.
Is Parasaurolophus a meat eater?
Parasaurolophus was an herbivore. It lived 76-74 million years ago. This dinosaur had an unusual head crest. The crest’s purpose puzzled paleontologists for years.
When threatened, Parasaurolophus fled at 30 mph. Its most distinctive feature was its two meter crest. The crest was used for communication and magnifying sound.
As a hadrosaurid, Parasaurolophus ate plants. It chewed with a grinding motion. Many herbivores thrived in the Cretaceous period alongside Parasaurolophus. These included Iguanodon, Ankylosaurus and ceratopsians.
Parasaurolophus was 10 meters long and weighed 3.5 tons. It lived in the late Cretaceous period, 83 to 71 million years ago. Parasaurolophus means “near crested lizard” in Greek.
In 1993, Parasaurolophus gained fame from Jurassic Park. Other dinosaurs also became more popular after this film. Parasaurolophus’ most distinctive feature was its backward-curving head crest. Recently, scientists simulated this crest with air flow. The crest produced a deep, resonating sound. This suggests the crest helped Parasaurolophus communicate with its herd.
Meat eaters like Tyrannosaurus and Albertosaurus preyed on Parasaurolophus. Parasaurolophus was among the Cretaceous’ largest hadrosaurs. As strong swimmers, Parasaurolophus could flee to water to escape predators on land.
What lived alongside Parasaurolophus?
Parasaurolophus migrated across North America, feasting on plants and trees. They traveled in herds alongside other herbivores. Paleontologists speculate the crest’s purpose. Some suggest communicating with herd members.
Parasaurolophus is an extinct genus from 76.5–73 million years ago. It is a herd animal feeding on vegetation. The most stunning feature is the crest on its head. Scientists were unsure of its function. Some believed it was a snorkel, others that it was used in combat.
Parasaurolophus was a hadrosaurid, part of a family known for bizarre head adornments, likely used for communication and hearing. This genus is known for its large, elaborate cranial crest. Parasaurolophus is known from three species: P. walkeri, P. tubicen, and P. cyrtocristatus. All can be clearly distinguished from each other.
They shared environments with other hadrosaurs, ceratopsians, ankylosaurs, and were preyed upon by raptors, Deinosuchus, and Tyrannosaurus. Parasaurolophus was first described in 1922 by William Parks.
Deinosuchus may have been a nemesis. Parasaurolophus, which lacked weaponry, escaped predators by forming groups.
The coldest environment, the Dinosaur Park Formation, was where P. walkeri lived. Here, Parasaurolophus lived in wet floodplains with conifers, horsetails, ferns and flowering plants. It lived alongside ankylosaurs, hadrosaurs, pachycephalosaurs and ceratopsians.
Parasaurolophus is still a fascination today. It had a pebbly skin, spoon-shaped beak with cheek teeth, pointy tail and may have had webbed fingers. It had a six foot crest atop its head. The crest on a male may have been longer than a female’s.
Pachycephalosaurus lived alongside T. rex and Triceratops. It was not a benign plant eater as depicted in children’s books.
Parasaurolophus is a hadrosaurid that inhabited Canada and USA marshlands and grass plains about 76–73 million years ago. Skeletal fossils and a skull were recovered in 1920 near Alberta. An adult weighed 2.5 tonnes and was 9.5 metres long, including 1.6 metre skull. The genus is known for its cranial tubular crest used for noise production.
What predators did Parasaurolophus have?
Parasaurolophus likely lived in herds to ensure protection and enhance vigilance against predators like Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus. The presence of large herds made it more challenging for predators to capture one. Parasaurolophus competed with other herbivores, including hadrosaurs like Corythosaurus and Lambeosaurus and other herbivores like Centrosaurus, Pentaceratops, Chasmosaurus, and Styracosaurus.
These species competed for food resources leading to confrontations. Parasaurolophus is hypothesized to have used its crest to produce low frequency sounds to alert others. Wiman suggested this in 1931 when describing P. tubicen, noting the crest’s internal structure similarity to a swan’s. He theorized an animal could use elongated nasal passages to create noise.
However, the nasal tubes of Corythosaurus and Lambeosaurus are more variable and complicated than Parasaurolophus’ airway. The leading hypothesis currently is the crest was a Shofar attached to Parasaurolophus’ noses. This means it could breathe in air, send it through the crest passageways like a trombone, and blow it back out, making loud, eerie honking sounds. The sounds varied between Parasaurolophus species and other hadrosaurs with hollow crests and tube pathways, as each tube shape produces a different sound.