Maiasaura

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Okay, fun fact. This Maiasaura was the first dinosaur in space. It was on Spacelab in 1985. How do I know that? It's in the travel brochure. They like to butt heads, too. We left that out. - Cabot Finch

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.

Template:Heading2Bar 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 all carnivores. This means that its sole defense against predators is to avoid them.

Template:Heading2Bar 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 in an areal known as Egg Mountain in the Two Medicine Formation. 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 alongside of other dinosaurs such as the ceratopsians Achelousarus and Einiosaurus, the armoured Nodosauridae Edmontonia, the hadrosaurs including Gryposaurus, Hypacrosaurus and Prosaurolophus, the small ornithopod Orodromeus, the small carnivorous Dromaeosauridae Bambiraptor and Troodontidae Troodon, as well as the two Tyrannosauridae Daspletosaurus and Gorgosaurus. Template:Clr Template:Heading2Bar

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ALPINE

COASTAL

SAVANNAH

WETLAND

WOODLAND

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• Maiasaurus was first shown in the Spinosaurus species profile on May 11, 2018.
• 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.

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Template:Heading2Bar Maiasaura on Wikipedia