1.7" Edmontosaurus Fossil Rib Bone Lance Creek FM Cretaceous Dinosaur WY COA
Location: Lance Creek Formation, Wyoming (Private Land Origin)
Weight: 0.9 Ounces
Fossil Dimensions: 1.7 Inches Long, 1.4 Inches Wide, 0.6 Inches Thick
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Edmontosaurus ("lizard from Edmonton") is a hadrosaurid dinosaur species from the Maastrichtian, the last phase of the Cretaceous period, 71-65 million years ago. A fully-grown adult could have been up to nine meters long, and some of the larger species reached thirteen meters. Its weight was in the region of 3.5 tonnes, making it one of the largest hadrosaurids.
Edmontosaurus could pass the toughest foodstuffs back and forth across its teeth with its muscular, daring pouches.
To accommodate so many teeth, Edmontosaurus had them packed tightly into “banks” with up to sixty rows. New teeth constantly grew to replace the lost ones, similar to how sharks renew their teeth. The upper jaw bones flexed outward as the lower jaw moved up, allowing the mandible to grind efficiently. Fossils show its diet included conifer needles, seeds, and twigs, confirming it browsed on trees.
The 1908 Wyoming discovery was truly exciting because paleontologists found fossilized imprints of Edmontosaurus’ skin. The quick drying of the skin left detailed impressions in the mud, revealing that its skin was scaly and leathery. These fossils reveal that the thigh muscle was tucked under the skin, giving the impression that the leg extended from the knee with the entire thigh concealed beneath the skin—further enhancing its duck-like appearance. Additionally, it had distinctive bumps, or tubercles, running along its neck, back, and tail.
Edmontosaurus was bipedal but could surely have walked on four legs. The forelimbs are shorter than the hindlimbs, but not so much that four-legged motivation was unfeasible. The front feet also had hooves on two fingers, and weight-bearing pads like folks of Camarasaurus. The rear feet had two toes, and all were hooked. The bone arrangement in the lower limbs suggests that both the legs and feet were attached to very influential 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 its 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 an early warning of predators.
