3.1" Hypacrosaurus Dinosaur Fossil Vertebrae Two Medicine FM Cretaceous MT COA

Location: Two Medicine Formation, Montana (Private Land Origin)

Weight: 9 Ounces

Dimensions: 3.1 Inches Long, 2.2 Inches Wide, 1.5 Inches Thick 

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Hypacrosaurus Dinosaur

The name Hypacrosaurus translates to ‘near the highest lizard,’ referencing its close relation in size to Tyrannosaurus, one of the apex predators of late Cretaceous North America. While the largest Tyrannosaurus individuals reached approximately twelve meters, Hypacrosaurus measured around nine meters. Notably, Hypacrosaurus and similar herbivorous dinosaurs may have been preyed upon by Tyrannosaurus and related genera such as Albertosaurus. This is supported by a significant bite wound on the back of an Edmontosaurus, which corresponds precisely to the shape of a Tyrannosaurus jaw. The healing of this injury confirms that the Edmontosaurus survived the attack, indicating active predation rather than scavenging.

       When you compare this to the twenty or so eggs in each Hypacrosaurus nest, you get the conclusion that Hypacrosaurus were breeding at a rate to compensate for high mortality levels. Assuming that environmental conditions were not so much of a factor, this could be because Hypacrosaurus was a viable and common prey species of the time, and, tyrannosaurs notwithstanding, other predators of Hypacrosaurus may have included troodontids like Troodon. These small predators would have been a particular threat to the smaller individuals of Hypacrosaurus, reducing the numbers growing to adulthood.

       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.