Lambeosaurus Characteristics

Lambeosaurus measured 50 feet (15 metres) in length and weighed 5 - 6 tons. It may have been the longest Ornithischian. Like other hadrosaurs such as Parasaurolophus and Corythosaurus, Lambeosaurus had a distinctive crest on the top of its head. It was a large square crest pointing forwards and a small spine pointing backwards. Its nasal cavity ran back through this crest making it mostly hollow. It is believed that that this could have enhanced the dinosaurs sense of smell, or have created a loud bleating noise. Different crests on the dinosaur initially led scientists to believe that it distinguished separate species, however, it is now thought that the crest is attributable to age and gender. Juveniles did not have crests and male crests were larger than females. Lambeosaurus had a narrow snout which ended in a wide, blunt beak. Lambeosaurus was a bipedal dinosaur and moved around on its 2 strong hind legs.

Lambeosaurus was a relatively fast dinosaur, which was probably its only real defence against ferocious carnivores, as it was otherwise defenseless, although its large size would have helped to ward off attackers.

Fossilized skin imprints have shown that Lambeosaurus had thin skin with uniform polygonal bumps everywhere except for its belly. They may also have had webbed fingers. Foot prints have shown that Lambeosaurus traveled in herds, moving on its hind limbs and dropping to all four limbs to feed. They may have migrated to higher grounds from shorelines to reproduce. Lambeosaurus was an ornithopod, whose intelligence (as measured by its relative brain to body weight, or EQ) was midway among the dinosaurs.

Lambeosaurus was an herbivore and would have fed upon pine needles, the leaves of flowering trees, and twigs. The teeth of Lambeosaurus were continually replaced and were packed into dental batteries that each contained over 100 teeth, only a few of which were in use at any time. It used its beak to crop plant material, which was held in the jaws by a cheek-like organ. Feeding would have been from the ground up to around 13 feet (4 metres) above.

Lambeosaurus would have been wiped out by the huge mass extinction that killed all the dinosaurs (except for the birds) 65 million years ago.

Many fossils have been found in North America, including Montana, Baja California and Alberta.

Lambeosaurus was named by Dr William A Parks in 1923 to honour Lawrence Lambe, an early Canadian fossil hunter.