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Maiasaura Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.
Maiasaura facts for kids
| Maiasaura Temporal range: Late Cretaceous |
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| Maiasaura skeleton | |
| Conservation status | |
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Fossil
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Ornithischia |
| Suborder: | Cerapoda |
| Infraorder: | Ornithopoda |
| Family: | Hadrosauridae |
| Subfamily: | Hadrosaurinae |
| Genus: | Maiasaura |
| Binomial name | |
| Maiasaura peeblesorum Horner & Makela, 1979 |
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Maiasaura was a large, plant-eating, duck-billed dinosaur. Maiasaura was the first dinosaur that was found alongside its young, eggs, and nests. This suggests that Maiasaura nurtured its young.
About Maiasaura
Maiasaura lived about 80 to 65 million years ago in the late Cretaceous period. It was described as a kind and good natured dinosaur who ate plants, leaves and berries. It ate no meat at all since it was a herbivore. Its name Maiasaura means “Good Mother Lizard”. It was named this because scientists discovered that it looked after its young. Maiasaura measured about 9 metres long, 2-2.5 metres tall and weighed around 1800 kg.
Where they live
Maiasaurs fossils were found in Montana, United States.
Images for kids
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Life restoration
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Reconstructed nest
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Skull, Royal Ontario Museum
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Cast of a juvenile skeleton
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Reconstruction of a nest with eggs
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Reconstructed cast by Jack Horner of a Maiasaura emerging from its egg
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Maiasaura fossil egg clutch, Museum of the Rockies.