hadrosaur

Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus skeleton, Field Museum
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Any of various herbivorous dinosaurs of the family Hadrosauridae, whose most distinguishing feature was a duck-like bill. The hadrosaurs flourished in the upper Cretaceous Period. (Greek hadros: "thick, heavy".)

It used to be thought that the hadrosaurs had webbed feet and were therefore amphibious. However, this was a misconception arising from the fact that one of the early hadrosaur fossil finds had preserved skin impressions on the feet that made them appear to be webbed; it was later determined that these impressions were actually due to desiccated foot pads such as are seen on dried camel feet. [Thanks to Joseph Daniel for this piece of information.]

Related category

• PALEONTOLOGY

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