Discovery

[Hadrosaur]s were the first family of [dinosaur]s to be identified in North America, beginning with the Joseph Leidy's eponymous [Hadrosaurus] in 1858. Anatosaurus ("duck lizard") was a closely related hadrosaur, whose best specimens were recovered in 1908 by the [fossil] collector Charles Hazelius Sternberg and his three sons. Sternberg was a provider to the great [Edward Drinker Cope] during his famous competition to name new species with [Othniel Charles Marsh]. Edmontosaurus was a victory for Cope in the race.

However, Lawrence M. Lambe named Edmontosaurus ("lizard from Edmonton") in 1917 from a find in the [Edmonton Rock Formation], [Alberta]. Anatosaurus was later reclassified as a species of Edmontosaurus, E. copei - the original sample was probably a young Edmontosaurus.

The 1942 study by Lull & Wright is the source for most of our understanding of Edmontosaurus.

Description

The hadrosaurs are known as "duck-billed" dinosaurs due to the similarity of their head to that of a modern [duck]. The whole front of the skull was flat and broadened out to form a beak, ideal for clipping leaves and twigs from the [tropical forest]s of North America. However, the back of the mouth contained literally thousands of teeth suitable for grinding food before it was swallowed. Thus Edmontosaurus could pass the toughest food back and forth across the teeth with its muscular cheek pouches. To fit so many teeth into its mouth, they were packed into tight "banks" of up to sixty rows, and new teeth constantly grew to replace lost teeth - like a modern [shark]. The bones of the upper jaw would flex outwards as lower jaw came up, so the [mandible] could grind against it. Typical food would have included [conifer] needles, seeds and twigs, and these have been found in the body cavities of fossilized Edmontosaurs. It was evidently a tree-browser.

Edmontosaurus lived in the Cretaceous period, 73 to 65 million years ago. A fully-grown adult could have been up to nine metres long, and some of the larger species reached thirteen metres. Weight was in the region of 3.5 [metric ton|tonnes], making it one of the largest hadrosaurs.

The 1908 discovery in [Wyoming] was especially remarkable in that [paleontologist]s actually recovered fossilized imprints of Edmontosaurus' skin. The impression must have been left by the skin drying very quickly and fixing its shape into the mud. It is from these impressions that we know the skin was scaly and leathery, and the thigh [muscle] was under the skin of the body. This would have given the impression that Edmontosaurus' leg left its body at the knee, and the whole thigh was under the skin. This only contributes to its resemblance to a duck. It also had a number of [tubercles] (bumps) along its neck and down its back and tail.

Edmontosaurus was [bipedal] dinosaur but could certainly have walked on four legs. The forelimbs are shorter than the hinds but not sufficiently that four-legged motivation was unfeasible. The front feet also had [hoof|hooves] on two fingers, and weight-bearing pads like those of [Camarasaurus]. The rear feet had two toes and all were hoofed. The bone structure in the lower limbs suggests that both the legs and feet were attached to very powerful muscles. The spine curved downwards at the shoulders, so Edmontosaurus would have had a low posture and would have browsed close to the ground. Despite the power of the limbs, Edmontosaurus would only have been slow-moving and had few defensive features. To survive, it must have had keen eyesight, hearing and smell to get early warning of [predator]s.

The structure of the skull suggests it may have had loose skin around its nose, like the inflatable pouch of a [bullfrog]. This could have been inflatable, in order to intimidate other dinosaurs or as part of the [mating ritual].

Edmontosaurus existed in the same place and time period as [Tyrannosaurus rex] and one specimen on display in the [Denver Museum of Nature and Science] has evidence of a T. rex bite in the tail. This vicious attack on the bone suggests that the Edmontosaurus was alive at the time and hence T. rex was probably not a [scavenger], as had been suggested in the 1970s. A mass graveyard discovery in [Alberta], [Canada] suggests that Edmontosaurus lived in herds. These herds may have migrated with the seasons, from the North Slope of [Alaska], where plantlife would have been scarce during the dark winter months, to the richer pastures of Alberta. If this is the case, T. rex would probably have gone with it, in search of a relatively easy meal.

[Classification of dinosaurs|Classification]

[Order] - [Ornithischia]
Suborder - [Ornithopoda]
Infraorder - Euornithopoda
[Family] - [Hadrosaur]idae
Subfamily - Hadrosaurinae

The [type species] is Lambe's E. regalis. As has been mentioned, [the artist formerly known as Prince|the dinosaur formally known as Anatosaurus] was really a young E. copei. Marsh named [Claosaurus] in 1892, but this has now been reclassified as E. annectens. Likewise, C.M. Sternberg named [Thespesius] in 1926, but this is also a [species] of Edmontosaurus, E. saskatchewanensis.

Edmontosaurus (thing)