Maiasaura Size report

It has long been assumed that dinosaurs, like reptiles today, laid their eggs once and walked away. Until paleontologists discovered Maiasaur's lair and fossils, analysis of dinosaur footprint fossils shows that they often go out in formation, with big dinosaurs on both sides and small dinosaurs in the middle of the formation, just like the elephants we know today.

In 1979, scientists discovered some dinosaur nests in Montana, USA, which contained the skeletons of small dinosaurs. The teeth on these fossils have obvious marks, which shows that they have begun to eat. But the limbs of these juveniles were not yet fully developed, which indicates that the juveniles were raised by their parents in the nest.

Because Maiasaura lived and built nests in groups, dinosaur experts were able to discover many fossils of adult and infant Maiasaura and their eggs from the nests, which made people understand the living habits, feeding habits, and nurturing of Maiasaura. Let's learn more about Maiasaura, such as their appearance, average size, growth process, etc.

Maiasaura Size and Appearance

Maiasaura lived in the Late Cretaceous, about 100 to 65.5 million years ago. They are typical herbivorous hadrosaurid dinosaurs, mainly eating plants, including ferns and leaves. Chimosaurus was large, with a typical hadrosaurid flat beak and thick snout. Maiasaura has small, pointed crests in front of its eyes. The crest may have been a weapon used to compete with other males during courtship season. Maiasaura has no teeth in its beak but has fine teeth on both sides of its mouth. Maiasaura's front legs are shorter than the hind legs. They usually walk on four legs and run on two at a fast speed. Their long tails are strong and used as a weapon or for balance.

Average Size of Maiasaura

Maiasaura has an overall body length between 8-9 meters and a standing height of 2.5-3 meters. From its skeletal structure, it can be inferred that Maiasaura had a strong tail and thick body. It weighs about 2,500-4,500 kilograms.

Living Habits

Maiasauras have no defenses against predators except for their strong tails and gregarious habits. These Maiasauras colonies are very large, possibly up to 10,000 individuals. Maiasaura built its nest on a high ground, about 2 meters in diameter, in the shape of a basin, with soil and small stones underneath. Their nests can be used for many years. Every breeding season, Maiasaura returned to the nest to lay eggs. Each has about 25 eggs; the eggs would be covered with plants for heat preservation. Babies cannot forage and move independently after birth and must be carefully raised for a long time.

Archaeological discovery of Maiasaura

In the summer of 1978, Horner and Makela discovered Egg Mountain. The number of nests of Maiasaura is the largest, and more than 40 have been found in an area of 1 square kilometer. Some evidence was found, such as the bones of the dinosaurs, the food ruminated, and the footprints beside the nest, show that Maiasauras took care of the babies for a long time. The bones and joints of these small dinosaurs are in a semi-developed state, and they can only rely on their parents to raise them. So far, more than 300 skeletons of Chimosaurus have been discovered, covering all age groups, which is of great significance to the study of the growth process of dinosaurs.

Final Words

The first fossils were found in 1978 and were named in 1979, and they lived in the area covered by the state of what is now Montana, US. Some paleontologists believe that there were a large number of mother dragons living in North America. They lived in the forest but returned to the same spawning area yearly to lay their eggs. When the baby dinosaurs grow up in the nest and can take care of themselves, they join the group of dinosaurs. Eventually, entire groups of dinosaurs migrated elsewhere in search of fresh food.