Brachylophosaurus
BRACK-ee-LOH-foh-SORE-us
"short-crested lizard"
- Lived
- 84 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- estimates range from 7 to 11 m (23 to 36 ft)
- Group
- Ornithopods, Hadrosauridae
- Found in
- United States and Canada
- Named by
- Sternberg 1953
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
80 million years ago
Habitat
River plains in Montana and Alberta supported duck-bills and horned dinosaurs. Neighbors included Corythosaurus, Centrosaurus and Daspletosaurus.
Field notes
About Brachylophosaurus
What it was like
Brachylophosaurus was a duck-billed dinosaur between 7 and 11 meters (23 to 36 feet) long. It had a broad beak and a flat, bony crest that sat on top of its head like a short shelf.
Like other duck-bills it chewed plants with hundreds of teeth packed into its jaws. It could walk on two legs or four.
Its world
It lived about 84 to 72 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous, in what are now Montana and Alberta. Its fossils come from the Judith River, Oldman and Claggett formations.
It shared these lands with Corythosaurus, Centrosaurus and Euoplocephalus, and had to watch for the tyrannosaurs Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus.
How it was found
Sternberg named Brachylophosaurus in 1953. Later finds in Montana included skeletons with skin impressions and even traces of soft tissue, which make it one of the best studied duck-bills.
Field gallery
More views of Brachylophosaurus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
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Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Brachylophosaurus.
The evidence
The science behind Brachylophosaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Skulls carry a solid, paddle-shaped crest that projects backward over the skull roof.
- Bonebeds preserve many individuals, providing skulls as well as body bones.
- A partly grown skull has nasal bones lying flat against the skull roof, without the adult crest.
Borrowed from relatives
- Its own skulls and skeletons provide much of the basic shape; Maiasaura helps guide reconstructions of muscles and movement.
Still unknown
- Its color and skin pattern.
- Whether males and females had different crests.
- What happened during the earliest stages of crest formation.
Discovery timeline
- 1953Named itSternberg
- 2015Growing upFreedman Fowler & Horner
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Brachylophosaurus
Named it
Named a duck-billed dinosaur from the Oldman Formation of Alberta, recognizing its distinctive short crest.
A mew hadrosaur from the Oldman Formation of Alberta: discussion of nomenclature. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 128: 1-12
No link available
Growing up
Compared Brachylophosaurus with Probrachylophosaurus, documenting crest growth and proposing a series of evolutionary changes in the crest.
A New Brachylophosaurin Hadrosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) with an Intermediate Nasal Crest from the Campanian Judith River Formation of Northcentral Montana. PLOS ONE 10: e0141304
Read the paper : A New Brachylophosaurin Hadrosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) with an Intermediate Nasal Crest from the Campanian Judith River Formation of Northcentral Montana (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Hadrosauridae
Sources: Wikidata