Kritosaurus Characteristics

Kritosaurus measured 30 feet (9 metres) in length, 23 feet (7 metres) in height and weighed a huge 3 tons being one of the largest hadrosaurs. It stood 9 feet tall at the hips. Kritosaurus had a flat head and a large bump or arched nasal crest on its snout. The crest would have been used for a variety of social functions such as indicating gender or species. The skull of Kritosaurus measured 34 inches (87 centimetres) and was long and slender.

Kritosaurus was a huge quadrupedal and bipedal dinosaur who walked on all 4 legs but could rear up on to its hinds legs, probably to forage for high vegetation. Kritosaurus had a toothless beak with many cheek teeth which were continually replacing and used for grinding and crushing tough plant material. Plant material would have been cropped by its broad beak and held in the jaws with a cheek-like organ. Kritosaurus have a long, heavy, stiff tail that woudl have been used to counter-balance the dinosaur when standing on its 2 hind legs. Its hind feet had 3 hoof-like toes like those of an elephant. The fore limbs were small and mainly used for gathering food or preparing nests, they were rarely used for walking.

Kritosaurus, like other duck-billed dinosaurs, lived in herds and would have pulled together to protect their young from ferocious carnivorous predators such as Tyrannosaurus Rex and Albertosaurus who would prey upon the large herbivores.

Kritosaurus is known from a fragmentary skull found in the San Juan basin of New Mexico, USA. Kritosaurus was named by fossil hunter Barnum Brown in 1910. The type species is K. navajovius (known from a poorly-preserved skull).