3.3" Hypacrosaurus Dinosaur Fossil Jaw Section Bone Two Medicine FM Montana COA
Location: Two Medicine Formation, Pondera County, Montana (Private Land Origin)
Weight: 2.1 Ounces
Dimensions: 3.3 Inches Long, 1.4 Inches Wide, 0.7 Inches Thick
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This is a real fossil.
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.
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 withstanding, 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 resembles that of its cousin Corythosaurus but is broader and lower in height. Its hollow nature confirms its place among the lambeosaurine hadrosaurids, a group represented by Lambeosaurus. While various ideas exist about why lambeosaurines had such crests, the most accepted explanation is that they served as visual markers, helping different hadrosaur species recognize each other—much like how unique horns and neck frills distinguish various ceratopsian dinosaur genera.
