Thursday, March 27, 2014

Dinosaurs 101

Dinosaur type #4
HADROSAURS: HAD- row- sores

Among the last and most numerous dinosaurs to roam the earth, hadrosaurs (commonly known as duck-billed dinosaurs) were large, oddly shaped, low-slung plant eaters with tough beaks on their snouts for shredding vegetation. 
Given their extensive fossil remains, it's likely that more hadrosaurs existed during the latter stages of the Cretaceous period than any other type of dinosaur . These gentle creatures roamed the woodlands and plains of North America, Europe and Asia, some genera in herds of hundreds or thousands of individuals, and some signaling to each other by funneling blasts of air through the large, ornate crests on their heads, a characteristic hadrosaur feature.

Hadrosaurs (Greek for "bulky lizards") were far from the sleekest, or most attractive, dinosaurs ever to roam the earth. These plant-eaters were characterized by their thick, squat torsos, massive, inflexible tails, and tough beaks and numerous cheek teeth (up to 1,000 in some species) designed for breaking down tough vegetation; some of them  had crests on top of their heads, while others  didn’t. Like cows and horses, hadrosaurs grazed on all fours, but some may have been capable of running clumsily away on two feet to escape predators.





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