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This animal, the Maiasaura, is known as the "good mother reptile" because its fossils were first discovered in a nesting colony. And really, who doesn't love a good mother?

Maiasaura is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur that originated from Late Cretaceous North America. Maiasaura is first unlocked by the Hammond Foundation during island operations on Isla Tacaño.

Characteristics

Perhaps the smallest hadrosaur in the Evolution series, Maiasaura is nevertheless a large hadrosaur, measuring nine meters in length and weighing in excess of 900kg. Its name translates to "Good Mother Lizard", in reference to it being the first dinosaur to show evidence of feeding hatchlings while they were still in the nest. Notable for having a bill rather than a snout or nose, Maiasaura feeds on leaves, branches, ferns and other plants. Their distinctive crest was likely used in head-butting contests. They can walk on four or two legs, and they most likely lived in vast herds. The base genome for Maiasaura is brown with white stripes running along its back, a white underbelly and a white head.

Behaviour

Maiasaura behave similarly to other species of hadrosaur. Like others of its family, it prefers a moderately large enclosure with similar amounts of forest. A herd is a necessity for this dinosaur due to their high minimum social requirements. They can otherwise mix well with other herbivorous dinosaurs with large maximum population limits.

Like all other hadrosaurs, Maiasaura is vulnerable to predation from most carnivores. This means that its sole defense against predators is to avoid them.

Paleontology

Maiasaura lived in Montana in the Late Cretaceous period. As a member of the saurolophinae branch of hadrosaurs, it lacked the complex crest of lambeosaurines such as Tsintaosaurus, but had a small spiky crest above the eyes. The first specimens of Maiasaura was an enormous nesting colony discovered between 1978 and 1979 by American paleontologists Robert Makela and Jack Horner, after a range of fossils were excavated from the Two Medicine Formation, Montana the previous year. The finds consisted of an adult dinosaur along with numerous juveniles and broken eggshells, and further investigation of the area found over 200 specimens, leading to the colloquial name "Egg Mountain". Since then, other finds have been uncovered around Montana. These finds also provided the first proof that large dinosaurs raised and fed their young. Over two hundred skeletons were found in various stages of growth; hatchlings, juveniles, young adults and fully grown adults. Each nest had around 30 to 40 eggs in a spiral pattern and covered with rotting vegetation to keep warm. The young grew up at a remarkable rate for an animal the size of Maiasaura, for by the time they reached one year old, they could leave the nest, suggesting they were warm blooded. However, despite the fact they had left the nest, they were still tended to by the adults. Because of these qualities, it dispelled the old notion that dinosaurs didn't care for their young and which gave the Maiasaura its name; meaning "Good Mother Lizard".

Paleoecology

Maiasaura lived during the Late Cretaceous period, around 86-70 million years ago. The location of so many eggshells in close proximity suggests that Maiasaura lived in groups, while research has shown that they roamed forests which provided plenty of vegetation while hiding them from predators. It lived alongside of other dinosaurs such as the ceratopsians Achelousarus and Einiosaurus, the armoured nodosaur Edmontonia, hadrosaurs such as Gryposaurus, Hypacrosaurus, and Prosaurolophus, the small ornithopod Orodromeus, small theropods such as Bambiraptor and Troodon, as well as the two tyrannosaurs Daspletosaurus and Gorgosaurus.


Available genomes

Fossil icon Dig site Quality Number available
Hadrosaurfossilicon
Egg Mountain
★★
★★★
★★★★
2
6
12
8

Skins

Trivia

  • Maiasaura was first shown in the Spinosaurus species profile on May 11, 2018.[1]
  • Maiasaura was intended to be in Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, but was ultimately scrapped due to time constraints.
  • Maiasaura is the first dinosaur that is exclusive to the Jurassic Park novel canon to be featured in the game.
  • Maiasaura appeared in the Inkwell Jurassic Park III Trading Cards alongside Muttaburrasaurus, possibly hinting at them being cloned by InGen.
  • Despite Cabot Finch's claim that Maiasaura like to "butt heads", this behavior is absent from the game.
  • Maiasaura is one of only two hadrosaurs ingame, the other being Edmontosaurus, that is depicted walking on all four legs and running on two as real hadrosaurs did.

Gallery

Reference

  1. Frontier Developments. (May 11, 2018). Species Profile - Spinosaurus [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved October 26, 2019.

External links

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