PK – B – 352 – QZ PARASAUROLOPHUS Y SUS CARACTERISTICAS

I really like dinosaurs and I find them very interesting; That is why on this occasion I wanted to investigate about the life of Parasaurolophus and its characteristics and thus be able to transmit the information and knowledge to my colleagues.

An interesting fact is that the Parasaurolophus appeared in the movie Jurassic Park, Lost World and in all the Jurassic World movies, currently there are many children's series where they make us aware of the existence of dinosaurs, which is why I was interested in looking for more information about this peculiar dinosaur.

I went to several libraries to look for all the information that there is so far on this great dinosaur, I checked magazines, books and I also did a search on reliable and secure internet pages and I found incredible things.

The name Parasaurolophus from the Greek para/παρα "alongside" or "nearby", saurus/ σαυρος "lizard" and lophos/λοφος "crest" means "close to the crested lizard".

Parasaurolophus is a hadrosaurid, part of the diverse family of Cretaceous dinosaurs known for their variety of strange head decorations. This genus is known for its large and elaborate cranial crest, shaped like a tube that projects backwards and above the skull.

As is the case with most dinosaurs, the skeleton of Parasaurolophus is not fully known. Many fossil specimens of Parasaurolophus have been found, which helps scientists to know about it.

With all the information that I could gather, I will be able to spread how this great dinosaur lived.

Due to the extinction of the dinosaurs, there is little information about Parasaurolophus. Reason for which I must search and collect all the information that there is so far about the main characteristics of Parasaurolophus.

The crest of the dinosaurs of the genus Parasaurolophus seems to be its main characteristic, but the truth is that it was only one of several.

They lived during the late Cretaceous, 76 to 73 million years (Ma), in what is now the US and Canadian territories.

The first parasaurolophus was described in 1922 by William Parks, from a skull and partial skeleton discovered in Canada in 1920.

Its name means "Almost a crested lizard."

There are three recognized species.

Parasaurolophus walkeri: It is the species when talking about the

parasaurolophus.

Parasaurolophus tubicen: It was the most

large and with a more curved crest.

• Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus: The smallest and with the most curved crest.

In 2017, a well-preserved skull of Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus was found, which made it possible to study many of its internal structures, better understand the evolution of dinosaurs, and reject the hypothesis that the crest served as a snorkel to breathe submerged (there are no holes in it).

Although a complete skeleton has not been discovered, Parasaurolophus walkeri could have been 9.5 meters long and weighed between 2.5 and 5 tons.

Some paleontologists have suggested that Parasaurolophus had a veil of skin from crest to back, however this has not been confirmed.

Although few fossils have been found, they are the ornithopod hadrosaurs that appear the most in movies and book illustrations.

Due to the shape of his teeth -which he replaced continuously- he chewed the plants he ate well. They were herbivores. It could eat leaves and stems from the ground, from low shrubs, or from trees up to 4.5 meters tall.

Paleontologists debate whether the Charonosauruss jiyinensis dino found in China actually belongs to the genus Parasaurolophus. If so, its name would change to P.jiayinensis, and it would mean that Parasaurolophus lasted longer than is believed, since the genus Charonosaurus lived until the mass extinction of all dinosaurs 66 Ma ago.

Parasaurolophus lived in subtropical humidities.

Its crest was hollow. It could have been an ornament to attract a partner, as a regulator of its body temperature, to listen better, it allowed it to emit more resonant low-frequency calls, to differentiate between males and females, to identify individuals, or to have several of these functions at the same time. .

Fossilized impressions of its skin show uniform scales.

They were ornithopods, that is, they had legs like those of current birds.

It shared time and terrain with dinos such as Albertosaurus, Teratophoneus curriei, Gryposaurus monumentensis (which was also a hadrosaur), ancestors of the Tyrannosaurus rex, and ankylosaurids, among others.

Clues suggest that its crest was colorful.

They were hadrosaurids, also called “duck-billed dinosaurs” because their snout bones were flattened like…duckbills! (but they were not ancestors of ducks).

They may have lived in herds.

They could move on two legs (and they were fast, perhaps to get away from predators) or on four (that's how they spent most of their time).

In 1998, through a computed tomography of the skull of a Parasaurolophus, a three-dimensional computer model was made taking into account its crest, and with or without vocal cords. “It could sound like some birds singing,” said one of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science and Sandia National Laboratories scientists who conducted the study.

Learn about the life of Parasaurolophus and make known everything that has been discovered about this species.

I really like dinosaurs and I find them very interesting; That is why I wanted to investigate about the life of Parasaurolophus and its characteristics and thus be able to transmit the information and knowledge to my colleagues.

If the dinosaurs became extinct then I must look for information only in a documentary way about the life of the parasaurolophus.

To carry out the documentary research I went to different libraries:

Vasconcelos Library, located at Eje 1 Nte, Buenavista, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City

Library "Jose María Morelos y Pavón" located in Av. Zarzaparrillas, Los Héroes Coacalco.

IBBY Library Association to Read, Listen, Write and Recreate, A.C., better known as IBBY México. Founded in 1979 with the purpose of promoting children's and youth literature to encourage reading in our country; Mexico located at Calle Goya 54, Col. Mixcoac, CDMX.

I also made a visit to the Museum of Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNIVERSUM), currently they have an exhibition hall called "Treasures: Fossils and Minerals of Mexico."

In the museum I discovered that in reality we still don't know why it was

dinosaurs went extinct; since there are at least two hypotheses about this phenomenon; The Catastrophist Theory - The Chicxulub Crater, The Gradualist Theory - Volcanic Activity and some refer that it could have been a combination of both theories; But the paleontological community continues to search for clues and develop new techniques to understand the past and unravel this prehistoric mystery.

We also rely on information that we find in electronic media such as the Internet.

I was able to find and get an informative poster in the magazine “Very interesting junior”.

Find interesting information about a dinosaur about which not much is known yet.
The Parasaurolophus:

It was about 9.5 meters long and weighed about 2.5 to 5 tons.

It had a humpbacked skull that was between 1.5 and 2.5 meters long.

The crest on its head was made of bone and was probably used to make sound, which could have been used for identification and communication. It was long and curved and could measure up to 1.6 meters long; it could have been to monitor body temperature, or even to help them hear better.

When it was young, Parasaurolophus is believed to have walked on

two legs, however, as it got older and larger, scientists believe it may have been on all fours. It had four toes on each foot.

It was herbivorous and ate plants; could chew its food, had teeth in piles and replaced them regularly, would have eaten leaves, twigs and possibly pine needles.

It was a dinosaur that laid eggs. It is believed that it could have nested in colonies.

There is no evidence to suggest what color Parasaurolophus was, but it was likely shades of brown or green.

Knowledge of this species has been improved and expanded as science advances and new specimens are discovered.

It seems to me a very interesting dinosaur due to its characteristics.