Corythosaurus

Nice work! You have correctly identified Corythosaurus (kor-ith-a-SORE-us).

Many millions of years ago, Corythosaurus roamed the swamps that covered western North America. With no armor to protect itself, it was probably easy prey for the large meat-eating dinosaurs of the time.

Corythosaurus belonged to a group sometimes called the duck-billed dinosaurs. They were called this because their horny, squared-off beaks look very much like the bills of ducks. Corythosaurus would grasp a mouthful of leaves, fruit, or water plants in its mouth; then it would clamp its flat bill shut and strip the food from the plant. Although Corythosaurus had no teeth in front of its mouth, the back of each jaw was lined with rows of up to 2,000 tightly packed teeth. Corythosaurus used these teeth to grind up tough plants. As old teeth wore and fell out, new ones grew in to replace them.

If you look closely, you can see that Corythosaurus had a bony crest on top of its skull. Paleontologists (scientists who study fossils) aren't sure why Corythosaurus had this crest, but they have some ideas: Inside the crest there are air passages. These passages may have given Corythosaurus a sharp sense of smell to help it detect predators. Maybe the crest was brightly colored and helped Corythosaurus to attract a mate. Recent studies suggest that the air passages in the crest may have given Corythosaurus a loud cry that it used to communicate with other dinosaurs. Imagine the racket they might have made!




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