Parasaurolophus: Complete Profile & 6 Characteristics Of The Dinosaur

constantly updated Christina Smith (Senior Editor)

The Parasaurolophus is a herbivorous dinosaur from the Cretaceous period. It is particularly known for the backward-curving horns on its head. We reveal everything you need to know, including important characteristics and a brief profile.

Table of Contents

In addition to its distinctive horn, the Parasaurolophus is also known for its “duckbill.” This refers to its broad, flat snout, which resembles a duck’s beak. Its striking appearance makes it one of the most famous dinosaur species.

Interesting facts about the Parasaurolophus

Parasaurolophus skeleton

Before we reveal the most important features of the Parasaurolophus, you will learn where the dinosaur was found, what its name means, and who its relatives were.

Discovery and locations

The first fossils of the Parasaurolophus were found in Alberta (Canada) in 1920. It was a largely well-preserved skeleton, although the tail and lower leg bones were missing.

William Parks named the newly discovered genus in 1922. Further finds were made in New Mexico and Utah, including some young animals. Researchers identified three species of the dinosaur from these finds. A well-preserved skull provided more detailed insights into the possible functions of the bone crest.

No complete skeleton of Parasaurolophus has been found to date. However, there are many fossilized bones from related dinosaurs that provide information about its physique.

Meaning of the name

The genus name Parasaurolophus is translated from Greek as “almost crested lizard.” It is based on a related genus called Saurolophus. Since it bears the name “crested lizard” and the Parasaurolophus looks similar to it, the name was chosen.

The decisive factor in both names was the conspicuous bone crest of the dinosaur genus. In Parasaurolophus, this is more curved and thicker than in Saurolophus.

Difference to Parasaurus

Parasaurus is a genus of reptile from the Permian period. Its name translates as “almost lizard.” It lived around 259 to 255 million years ago, before the great era of the dinosaurs. The first recognized dinosaurs appeared 230 million years ago.

Due to their similar names, Parasaurolophus is sometimes confused with Parasaurus. In addition, Parasaurus sounds like an abbreviation of its name and is sometimes used as such, for example in the video game “ARK.”

Parasaurus belongs to the Pareiasauria, while Parasaurolophus belongs to the Hadrosauria.

The hadrosaur group

The hadrosaur group (here a Maiasaura)

The Parasaurolophus belongs to the hadrosaur family. They are also known as “duck-billed dinosaurs” and lived in the late Cretaceous period. There are 35 genera, including Saurolophus, Maiasaura, Edmontosaurus, and Olorotitan.

Hadrosaurs are herbivores with fairly broad and flat snouts. They had strong hind legs and moved mostly on four legs. However, it is believed that they only used their hind legs for running when fleeing.

Characteristics of the Parasaurolophus

In this chapter, we have summarized the most important characteristics of the Parasaurolophus for you. You will learn more about the ancestry of its species, when it lived, what its habitat looked like, and how large it grew.

Afterward, you will find the most important information summarized in a fact sheet.

Classification of the genus and species

There are currently three recognized species of the genus: Parasaurolophus walkeri, Parasaurolophus tubicen, and Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus. They belong to the Lambeosaurinae, a group of herbivorous dinosaurs from the Cretaceous period with a crest on their heads.

The shape of this crest could vary greatly depending on the genus. Some were shaped like a thick helmet, others stood narrowly from the head like a unicorn. In Parasaurolophus, the crest stood out from the back of the head like a thick, downward-curving cone.

Lambeosaurinae belong to the hadrosaur family, which we discussed above. They belong to the Iguanodontia group, which in turn belongs to the Ornithopoda, a subgroup of the bird-hipped dinosaurs (Ornithischia).

Ornithischians are mostly herbivores and differ from the saurischians, which include carnivores such as the Carnotaurus and Velociraptor, or herbivores such as the Brontosaurus. Other bird-hipped dinosaurs and thus distant relatives of the Parasaurolophus were:

Stegosaurus
Ankylosaurus
Triceratops

When did the Parasaurolophus live?

When the Parasaurolophus lived

The age of the dinosaurs is known as the Middle Ages of the Earth or Mesozoic Era. It consists of the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. The Cretaceous period is the youngest of the three periods.

Cretaceous (145 to 66 million years ago)
Jurassic (201 to 145 million years ago)
Triassic (252 to 201 million years ago)

The Cretaceous period is divided into the Upper and Lower Cretaceous. The Parasaurolophus lived during the Upper Cretaceous, the most recent period in which dinosaurs still existed.

Researchers further divide the Late Cretaceous into six periods, during which the “almost-camel” lived in the Campanian and Maastrichtian ages. Findings to date indicate that the Parasaurolophus lived between 76.4 and 72 million years ago, i.e., over a period of approximately 4.4 million years.

Habitat

The habitat of the Parasaurolophus in Alberta consisted of a landscape with rivers and swamps. The climate was fairly balanced and warm, with rainy and dry seasons. Ferns, tree ferns, and conifers also grew there.

This prehistoric reptile was part of a diverse dinosaur world and shared its habitat with various other species. Several carnivores and herbivores are known to have lived in the same area as the Parasaurolophus in Alberta and New Mexico:

In Alberta:

Prosaurolophus, Gryposaurus, Corythosaurus, and Lambeosaurus (herbivores, relatives of the hadrosaur family)
Centrosaurus, Styracosaurus, and Chasmosaurus (herbivores, four-legged ceratopsians with a neck frill and horns)
Edmontonia and Euoplocephalus (herbivores, four-legged ankylosaurs with heavy armor)
Gorgosaurus (carnivore, bipedal tyrannosaur)

In New Mexico:

Alamosaurus (herbivore, long-necked quadrupedal sauropod)
Kritosaurus (herbivorous, related to hadrosaurs)
Pentaceratops (herbivorous, ceratopsian with neck frill and five horns)
Nodocephalosaurus (herbivorous, armored ankylosaur)
Saurornitholestes (carnivorous, bipedal theropod)

Size of the Parasaurolophus

The size of the Parasaurolophus

The Parasaurolophus grew to a length of about 9.5 meters. Specimens of its skull have been found with a length of 1.6 and 2 meters, including the bone crest.

Its height in a regular four-legged stance was probably around 3.5 meters. The prehistoric lizard weighed about 2.5 tons, which is about as much as a modern Volkswagen van.

Build and locomotion

The Parasaurolophus usually moved on four legs. However, it was also capable of walking on two legs. This was made possible by its strong hind legs, which appeared significantly more powerful than its shorter and slimmer front legs. It had three toes at the back and four at the front.

Its posture is therefore often depicted as slightly bent forward or parallel to the ground. However, the most striking feature of this dinosaur was the horn on its head, also known as a bone crest or bone spike.

The bone spike

The Parasaurolophus’s curved and largely hollow horn is called a bone spike. It protruded from the nasal bone and extended backward over its head. It probably served for communication, regulating body temperature, and identifying the species and sex.

Tubes ran from the nose through the horn and curved back to the skull. Researchers suspect that females and young animals had smaller horns than adult males. However, more evidence is needed to confirm this theory.

Way of life and diet

Lifestyle and diet

The Parasaurolophus was a herbivore. In science, this characteristic is referred to as “herbivorous.” It had a flat, toothless mouth with which it could pluck its food.

It also had a well-developed jaw with which it chewed its food. It had what are known as tooth batteries. These formed a surface for grinding plants with several hundred teeth. The worn teeth were immediately replaced by rows of new teeth.

To obtain food, the Parasaurolophus probably grazed at heights of up to four meters.

Life expectancy of dinosaurs

Researchers have not yet been able to determine the exact life expectancy of these prehistoric giants. Large sauropods such as the Brachiosaurus or the Diplodocus could probably live to be over 50 years old.

‘Smaller’ dinosaurs, which included the Parasaurolophus, probably did not live longer than 40 years. The maximum age calculated so far for the skeleton of a T-Rex is 32 years.

Profile: The Parasaurolophus

Profile: The Parasaurolophus

In this profile, we have summarized all the important characteristics of the Parasaurolophus for you. These include its size and weight, as well as important physical features.

Afterward, you will learn about how this herbivore is portrayed in popular culture and about the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Genus name: Parasaurolophus
Known species: P. walkeri, P. tubicen, P. cyrtocristatus
Family: Hadrosauridae
Group: Iguanodontia
Order: Ornithischia
Period: Cretaceous (Late Cretaceous, 76.4 to 72 million years ago)
Habitat: North America (Alberta, New Mexico, Utah)
Diet: Herbivorous (plant-eating)
Physical characteristics: Curved bone spikes on the skull, duck-like beak, larger and stronger hind legs than front legs, pointed tail
Length: up to 9.5 meters
Skull length: up to 2 meters
Height: approximately 3.5 meters
Weight: approximately 2.5 tons

The Parasaurolophus in popular culture

Whether in films, as a toy or a coloring picture, the Parasaurolophus has become an integral part of popular culture. It is known from films such as “Disney’s Dinosaurs,” “Jurassic Park,” and “Jurassic World.”

The character “Ducky” from the animated film series “The Land Before Time” is often referred to as a Parasaurolophus or Saurolophus and has typical characteristics. In the original script, however, the character was described as an Anatosaurus.

Risk of confusion in the video game “ARK”

The adventure video game “ARK: Survival Evolved” (2017) causes confusion regarding the name of the Parasaurolophus. In the game, the dinosaur is depicted very similarly to a Parasaurolophus, but is called ‘Parasaur’ or “Parasaurus.”

However, the Parasaurus is actually a completely different genus that became extinct 255 million years ago. The reptile lived before the great era of the dinosaurs and belongs to the Permian period. The abbreviated name of the Parasaurolophus in ARK is therefore not scientifically correct.

Extinction of the dinosaurs

Extinction of the dinosaurs

The Earth is already 4.6 billion years old. During this time, there have been many mass extinctions of animal species. One of these was the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. At that time, half of all genera and about three quarters of all species died out.

There are various theories in science about the great extinction. One likely cause is the impact of a giant meteorite that changed the environment and climate.

According to this theory, huge clouds of dust darkened the sky for months after the impact, causing plants to wither. The climate cooled and temperatures dropped below freezing around the world. The giant lizards could no longer find enough food to meet their high energy needs and eventually died out.

The Parasaurolophus died out before this event 72 million years ago. Why this happened is not yet known. Perhaps the dinosaur could not reproduce quickly enough, it was hunted more, or there were changes in the plant world that made it difficult for it to find food.

Dinosaurs and humans in comparison

Humans developed slowly at the beginning of the Stone Age about 2.6 million years ago. The well-known early human known as Neanderthal lived around 400,000 years ago. Our direct ancestor, Homo sapiens, has been estimated by researchers to be around 300,000 years old. Dinosaurs, on the other hand, ruled our Earth for around 169 million years.