PARASAUROLOPHUS
Parasaurolophus walkeri (pair-a-sore-all-oh-fuss walk-air-eye) is a dinosaur made famous by its distinctive head crest. With a name meaning "almost Saurolophus", Parasaurolophus is only distantly related to its name sake.
Original Discovery
Parasaurolophus was discovered in 1920 by a team of researchers from the University of Toronto. Since then, two additional species of Parasaurolophus have been named, P. cyrtocristatus (absolutely no idea how to pronounce that) and P. tubicen (two-by-sen).
Physical Appearance
Measuring 33 feet long, Parasaurolophus had a fairly typical body for a hadrosaur (had-row-sore), short front legs with hoof-like hands and long hind limbs. Most of a Parasaurolophus' life would be spent standing on all four legs. However, like many hadrosaurs Parasaurolophus could stand on its hind legs to gain a higher vantage point. This would have allowed Parasaurolophus to feed from taller trees and to spot predators from a distance. If need be, the long hind legs would enable Parasaurolophus to run away from predators faster than the quadrupedal herbivores it shared the world with.
Ecology
It is thought that Parasaurolophus would have lived in large herds. There is safety in numbers and while some Parasaurolophus ate, others could preform sentry duty. When danger arose in the form of a hungry tyrannosaur, a sentry could give a loud call, alerting other individuals to the threat. This danger call would have been produced in the distinctive crest on the head of Parasaurolophus. The crest of Parasaurolophus was hollow and was connected to the nostrils and windpipe of the living animal. By breathing through its nose, Parasaurolophus could have produced calls that were completely different from the other crested hadrosaurs at the time. Digital models of the crest have been able to simulate the sounds that the real animal could have produced. These sounds are showcased in the video below. (Video may not work mobile devices. Sorry.)
Extinction
Parasaurolophus went extinct 65 million years ago with the rest of the non-avian dinosaurs. It is likely that thousands of Parasaurolophus were killed by the tidal waves that decimated the coasts of North America shortly after the asteroid impact.
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Image Credits
All images have had minor cropping in order to fit the space required
All images are used under Fair Use laws
Credits are listed in order of appearance: Top to Bottom and Left to Right
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Parasaurolophus
Original screenshot by: Liekeze
Taken in game: ARK: Survival Evolved
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Parasaurolophus walkeri
Original photo by: missbossy
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Parasaurolophus with frill
Original artwork by: Tom Parker/Tomozaurus
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Startled Parasaurolophus
Original artwork owned by: The National Geographic Society
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Real Parasaurolophus Calls
Original video by: DinosaurCulture
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Dead Parasaurolophus
Original screenshot by: Liekeze