5.1" Hypacrosaurus Dinosaur Fossil Rib Bone Two Medicine FM Cretaceous MT COA
Location: Two Medicine Formation, Montana (Private Land Origin)
Weight: 7.5 Ounces
Dimensions: 5.1 Inches Long, 3.5 Inches Wide, 1.2 Inches Thick
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Hypacrosaurus Dinosaur
Hypacrosaurus, meaning ‘near the highest lizard,’ refers to its proximity in size to the mighty Tyrannosaurus—the true ‘highest’ predator of late Cretaceous North America. While Tyrannosaurus could reach lengths of twelve meters, Hypacrosaurus grew up to nine meters, making it a significant but smaller target. Fascinatingly, Hypacrosaurus and its kin likely fell prey to fierce hunters like Tyrannosaurus and Albertosaurus. This is proven by a massive bite wound on an Edmontosaurus, perfectly matching a Tyrannosaurus jaw, that healed over time—showing that this was no mere scavenging act but a brutal, survived encounter with a top predator.
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.
