Maiasaura Juvenile Skull Replica

$454.00

Maiasaura or Maiasaura peeblesorum were large, attaining a maximum known length of about 30 ft. They had a flat beak, thick noses and a small, spiky crest in front of the eyes.

Description

Maiasaura Juvenile Skull Replica measures 12x5x4 inches. Maiasaura Juvenile skull replica is museum quality polyurethane cast. 2-part skull (separate cranium & jaw). Made in the USA. Maiasaura peeblesorum is the scientific name. Our precise skull can be used as a teaching tool, museum skull exhibit, home décor skull, or office décor skull.

The Maiasaura or Maiasaura peeblesorum was discovered by Laurie Trexler in 1979 and described by dinosaur paleontologists Jack Horner and Robert Makela as the holotype of a new species. They named the type species Maiasaura peeblesorum.

The generic name refers to the Greek goddess Maia, the “Good Mother”; to emphasize this, they used the feminine form of saurus: saura.

Maiasaura or Maiasaura peeblesorum were large, attaining a maximum known length of about 30 ft. They had a flat beak, thick noses and a small, spiky crest in front of the eyes. This crest may have been used in headbutting contests between males during the breeding season.

Maiasaura Peeblesorum were herbivorous. They were capable of walking both on two (bipedal) or four (quadrupedal) legs. Studies of the stress patterns of healed bones show that young juveniles under four years old walked mainly bipedal, switching to a mainly quadrupedal style of walking when they grew larger.

Maiasaura or Maiasaura peeblesorum appeared to have no defense against predators, except, perhaps, its heavy muscular tail and their herd behavior. Herds were extremely large and could have comprised as many as 10,000 individuals. Maiasaura or Maiasaura peeblesorum lived in an inland habitat.

Maiasaura Peeblesorum lived in herds and it raised its young in nesting colonies. The nests in the colonies were packed closely together, like those of modern seabirds, with the gap between them being around 23 ft. They were made of earth and contained 30 to 40 eggs laid in a circular or spiral pattern. The eggs were about the size of ostrich eggs.

Maiasaura Peeblesorum eggs were incubated by the heat resulting from rotting vegetation placed into the nest by the parents, rather than a parent sitting on the nest.

Upon hatching, fossils of baby Maiasaura show that their legs were not fully developed and thus they were incapable of walking. Maiasaura or Maiasaura peeblesorum fossils also show that their teeth were partly worn, which means that the adults brought food to the nest.

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Additional information

Weight 12 lbs
Dimensions 12 × 5 × 4 in
Maiasaura Facts:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: †Ornithischia
Suborder: †Ornithopoda
Family: †Hadrosauridae
Subfamily: †Saurolophinae
Tribe: †Brachylophosaurini
Genus: †Maiasaura
Type species: †Maiasaura peeblesorum