MAIASAURA
Maiasaura peeblesorum
Meaning: "Good Mother Lizard"
📊 STATS
Size comparison:
As long as a school bus
📖 ABOUT MAIASAURA
Meet Maiasaura, the 'Good Mother Lizard'! This gentle giant was a super-caring dinosaur mom who lived in what is now Montana, USA.
Imagine a dinosaur that wasn't just big and strong, but also a fantastic parent! That's Maiasaura, whose name means 'Good Mother Lizard'. Maiasaura lived about 76 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period. These herbivores were pretty big, growing up to 9 meters long and standing about 2.3 meters tall. They munched on plants all day long using their duck-like bills.
What makes Maiasaura special is how much we know about their family life. Paleontologists discovered nests with baby Maiasaura and even found evidence that the adults brought food to their young! This shows that Maiasaura were excellent parents, caring for their babies until they were big enough to take care of themselves. They lived in herds, which helped protect them from predators. While they could walk on two legs, they probably used all four when moving quickly, reaching speeds of up to 35 kilometers per hour! Maiasaura proves that dinosaurs weren't just scary monsters; some were also devoted moms and dads.
🔬 CLASSIFICATION
- Group
- Ornithopoda
- Family
- Hadrosauridae
- Period
- Late Cretaceous (100-66 Ma)
- Era
- 77.0 - 76.0 million years ago
🗺️ DISCOVERY
- Year
- 1979
- Discovered by
- Jack Horner
- Location
- Montana, USA
- Fossils found in
- USA (Montana)
🎨 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATION
Artistic reconstruction of Maiasaura based on fossil evidence
🗺️ WHERE FOSSILS WERE FOUND
USA (Montana)
🤓 FUN FACTS
- ✨ Maiasaura nests were often built close together, like a dinosaur neighborhood!
- ✨ Baby Maiasaura couldn't walk right away, so their parents had to bring them food.
- ✨ Maiasaura had hundreds of teeth to help them grind up tough plants.
- ✨ Maiasaura lived in large herds, possibly with thousands of individuals!
- ✨ The first Maiasaura fossils were discovered by paleontologist Jack Horner in 1979.
💡 DID YOU KNOW?
Get this: Maiasaura nests were so carefully built that the eggs were arranged in a spiral pattern!
