Why did the maiasaura go extinct?

How was the Maiasaura dinosaur discovered?

Maiasaura was discovered by Laurie Trexler and described by dinosaur paleontologist Jack Horner (paleontologic advisor for the Jurassic Park movies) and Robert Makela. He named the dinosaur after Marion Brandvold’s discovery of a nest with remains of eggshells and babies too large to be hatchlings.

How did the Maiasaura protect itself from predators?

Just like other Hadrosaurids though, the Maiasaura may have also slapped necks together during mating season as well. This dinosaur was an herbivore. It walked both on two or four legs and seemed to have no defense from predators, though its heavy muscular tail and its herd behavior both could have been one.

What kind of animal is a Maiasaura?

Maiasaura pronounced MAY-ya-SOR-uh (from the Greek “μαία + σαύρα”, meaning “caring mother lizard”) is a large duck-billed dinosaur genus that lived in the area currently covered by the state of Montana in the Cretaceous Period, about 74 million years ago. These get their name from the term good mother lizards.

How many hatchlings of Maiasaura were found?

Maiasaura was discovered by dinosaur paleontologist Jack Horner and Robert Makela. The original discovery comprised 15 hatchlings found in a fossilized nest, and subsequent visits to the site yieled fossilized eggs, more hatchlings, sub-adult, and adult Maiasaura.

Did Maiasaura feed their babies?

The reason Dr. Horner believed that Maiasaura fed their babies, rather than laying eggs and abandoning the nest as modern lizards and turtles do, has a lot to do with the materials found in the nest. Regurgitated bits of vegetable matter, and broken eggshells are two of the clues that support this idea.

How did the dinosaur Maiasaura get its name?

Maiasaura. The first fossils of Maiasaura were discovered in 1978. The genus was named in 1979. The name refers to the find of nests with eggs, embryos and young animals, in a nesting colony. These showed that Maiasaura fed its young while they were in the nest, the first time such evidence was obtained for a dinosaur.

How does a Maiasaura defend itself?

Maiasaura, like most other hadrosaurs, possessed little in the way of obvious weaponry, though likely could defend themselves with kicks, stomps, or their muscular tails. It is likely that they primarily resorted to fleeing in the face of danger, using the vast sizes of their herds to be less likely to be targeted.

Did Maiasaura feed its young while they were in the nest?

These showed that Maiasaura fed its young while they were in the nest, the first time such evidence was obtained for a dinosaur. Hundreds of bones of Maiasaura have been dug up.

How many eggs does a Maiasaura lay?

Maiasaura is most famous for its parenting behavior–and that behavior started with females, which laid up to 30 or 40 eggs at a time in carefully prepared nests. (We know about these nests thanks to the discovery of “Egg Mountain,” an exquisitely preserved Maiasaura breeding ground.)

What kind of dinosaur is Maiasaura?

Immortalized as the “good mother dinosaur,” Maiasaura was a typical hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur, of late Cretaceous North America. Discover 10 fascinating Maiasaura facts.

Is Maiasaura a model organism for extinct vertebrates?

“Maiasaura, a model organism for extinct vertebrate population biology: A large sample statistical assessment of growth dynamics and survivorship”. Paleobiology. 41 (4): 503–527. doi: 10.1017/pab.2015.19. S2CID 85902880. ^ Amiot, R.; Lécuyer, C.; Buffetaut, E.; Escarguel, G.; Fluteau, F.; Martineau, F. (2006).

What kind of environment did Maiasaura live in?

During the late Cretaceous period, Maiasaura lived in a fairly complex ecosystem, sharing its territory not only with other hadrosaurs (such as Gryposaurus and Hypacrosaurus) but also meat-eating dinosaurs like Troodon and Bambiraptor.

How big was the giant Maiasaura?

Maiasaura was approximately 30 feet long, 8 feet tall and probably weighed around 4 tons. It was a duck-billed dinosaur that had a flattened skull and bony crests positioned in front of its eyes.

What is the name of the dinosaur from New Mexico?

Reappraisal of Seismosaurus, a Late Jurassic Sauropod Dinosaur From New Mexico. 2004 Denver Annual Meeting (November 7–10, 2004). 36. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America. p. 422. OCLC 62334058. Paper No. 181-4. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019. Retrieved October 25, 2019. ^ Sellers, William Irvin.;

How did Dinosauria get its name?

The taxon ‘Dinosauria’ was formally named in 1841 by paleontologist Sir Richard Owen, who used it to refer to the “distinct tribe or sub-order of Saurian Reptiles” that were then being recognized in England and around the world.

What is a Maiasaura?

Maiasaura, one of the few dinosaurs to be named after the female, rather than the male, of the genus, is an especially important duck-billed dinosaur, thanks to the discovery of an extensive North American nesting ground bearing the fossilized remains of adult and juvenile individuals, as well as numerous eggs arranged in bird-like clutches.

How did Maiasaura make its nests so hot?

Rather, as far as paleontologists could tell, Maiasaura parents strewed various kinds of vegetation into their nests, which emitted heat as it rotted away in the jungle-like humidity of late Cretaceous North America.

What kind of dinosaurs lived with Maiasaura?

Maiasaura lived alongside Orodromeus, Troodon, the ceratopsid Centrosaurus, the tank-like Euoplocephalus and earlier relatives of Tyrannosaurus rex, Daspletosaurus torosus and Albertosaurus. It was among the latest dinosaur species to evolve, prior to the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction of 65 million years ago.

How did the genus Maiasaura get its name?

The genus was named in 1979. The name refers to the find of nests with eggs, embryos and young animals, in a nesting colony. These showed that Maiasaura fed its young while they were in the nest, the first time such evidence was obtained for a dinosaur. Hundreds of bones of Maiasaura have been dug up.

How big do Maiasaura get after they hatch?

Newborn Maiasaura were approximately 12 inches (30 cm) in length, however, by approximately three to five weeks after hatching, the Maiasaura were in lengths of upward of 5 feet (1.5 m) long, and were capable of leaving the nest on their own.