2.7" Hypacrosaurus Dinosaur Fossil Jaw Section Bone Two Medicine FM Montana COA
Location: Two Medicine Formation, Pondera County, Montana (Private Land Origin)
Weight: 3.3 Ounces
Dimensions: 2.7 Inches Long, 1.8 Inches Wide, 0.9 Inches Thick
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Hypacrosaurus Dinosaur
Hypacrosaurus means ‘near the highest lizard’, and in this context, the ‘lizard’ was actually the dinosaur Tyrannosaurus, one of the largest dinosaurs in the ecosystems of late Cretaceous North America, but only about a third larger than Hypacrosaurus in the largest individuals (twelve meters for a large individual Tyrannosaurus compared to nine meters for Hypacrosaurus). Interestingly, Hypacrosaurus and other dinosaurs like it may have actually been prey to Tyrannosaurus and other related genera such as Albertosaurus. Evidence for this comes from a huge bite wound inflicted on the back of an Edmontosaurus that closely matches the shape of a Tyrannosaurus' mouth. Because the bones in the wound actually healed afterwards, this proves that the Edmontosaurus in question was alive when it happened, and not a case of a tyrannosaur simply scavenging an existing carcass.
Considering that each Hypacrosaurus nest contained approximately twenty eggs, it can be inferred that these dinosaurs reproduced at a rate sufficient to offset significant mortality. Provided that environmental factors were not predominant, this reproductive strategy likely reflects Hypacrosaurus’s role as a prevalent and essential prey species. Aside from tyrannosaurs, smaller predators such as troodontids, including Troodon, would have posed considerable threats to juvenile Hypacrosaurus, thereby limiting the number that survived to reach maturity.
The crest of Hypacrosaurus is similar to that of its relative Corythosaurus, though wider and not as high. This crest was also hollow, which confirms its establishment as a lambeosaurine hadrosaurid (the group typified by Lambeosaurus). Several theories have been made about the function of lambeosaurine head crests, though the one with the most support concerns visual display so that different species of hadrosaur can tell each other apart, probably in a similar fashion to how the differences in the forms of horns and neck frills allow different genera of ceratopsian dinosaurs to be identified.
