About The Author Darlene Stille is a science writer and an author of more than 80 books for young people. When she was in high school she fell in love with science. While attending the University of Illinois, she discovered that she also loved writing. She was fortunate to find a career as an editor and writer that allowed her to combine both her interests. Darlene Stille now lives and writes in Michigan.
Table of Contents
© 2007 Rourke Publishing LLC All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher. www.rourkepublishing.com Photos/Illustrations: Cover © Joe Tucciarone; title page and pages 10, 15, 22 © Francois Gohier; pages 4, 7, 20 © Jan Sovak; page 8 © American Museum of Natural History Library; pages 13, 18 © Davide Bonadonna; page 17 © Michael Carroll; page 19 © Sinclair Stammers; page 21 © Todd Marshall Editor: Robert Stengard-Olliges Cover and page design by Nicola Stratford
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stille, Darlene R. Hadrosaurus / by Darlene Stille. p. cm. -- (North American dinosaurs) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-60044-252-8 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-60044-334-3 (paperback) 1. Hadrosauridae--Juvenile literature. 2. Dinosaurs--North America--Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series. QE862.O65S75 2007 567.914--dc22 2006016262
Printed in the USA CG/CG
www.rourkepublishing.com –
[email protected] Post Office Box 3328, Vero Beach, FL 32964
1-800-394-7055
Meet the Duck Bills
5
A Hadrosaur Picnic
6
Taking a Stroll
8
Noisy Beasts
12
Flat Head and Feathers
15
Cow of the Cretaceous
16
Hadrosaur Home Life
17
Hadrosaur Hazards
20
The First Hadrosaur Find
22
Glossary
23
Further Reading/Website
24
Index
24
About The Author Darlene Stille is a science writer and an author of more than 80 books for young people. When she was in high school she fell in love with science. While attending the University of Illinois, she discovered that she also loved writing. She was fortunate to find a career as an editor and writer that allowed her to combine both her interests. Darlene Stille now lives and writes in Michigan.
Table of Contents
© 2007 Rourke Publishing LLC All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher. www.rourkepublishing.com Photos/Illustrations: Cover © Joe Tucciarone; title page and pages 10, 15, 22 © Francois Gohier; pages 4, 7, 20 © Jan Sovak; page 8 © American Museum of Natural History Library; pages 13, 18 © Davide Bonadonna; page 17 © Michael Carroll; page 19 © Sinclair Stammers; page 21 © Todd Marshall Editor: Robert Stengard-Olliges Cover and page design by Nicola Stratford
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stille, Darlene R. Hadrosaurus / by Darlene Stille. p. cm. -- (North American dinosaurs) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-60044-252-8 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-60044-334-3 (paperback) 1. Hadrosauridae--Juvenile literature. 2. Dinosaurs--North America--Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series. QE862.O65S75 2007 567.914--dc22 2006016262
Printed in the USA CG/CG
www.rourkepublishing.com –
[email protected] Post Office Box 3328, Vero Beach, FL 32964
1-800-394-7055
Meet the Duck Bills
5
A Hadrosaur Picnic
6
Taking a Stroll
8
Noisy Beasts
12
Flat Head and Feathers
15
Cow of the Cretaceous
16
Hadrosaur Home Life
17
Hadrosaur Hazards
20
The First Hadrosaur Find
22
Glossary
23
Further Reading/Website
24
Index
24
Meet the Duck Bills Something rustles in the pine forest. A big head pokes through the branches. The head has a bill. It looks like the bill of a giant duck. The animal slowly lumbers out from behind the trees. It is not a duck. It is a dinosaur! It is a duck-billed dinosaur, or hadrosaur. It clomps along on two big back legs and two short front legs. The hadrosaur shifts its thick, bulky body. It is bigger than an elephant but it looks like a reptile. Hadrosaur means “bulky lizard.”
Hadrosaur lumbers through the forest on its two hind legs.
4
5
Meet the Duck Bills Something rustles in the pine forest. A big head pokes through the branches. The head has a bill. It looks like the bill of a giant duck. The animal slowly lumbers out from behind the trees. It is not a duck. It is a dinosaur! It is a duck-billed dinosaur, or hadrosaur. It clomps along on two big back legs and two short front legs. The hadrosaur shifts its thick, bulky body. It is bigger than an elephant but it looks like a reptile. Hadrosaur means “bulky lizard.”
Hadrosaur lumbers through the forest on its two hind legs.
4
5
A Hadrosaur Picnic This hadrosaur is not alone. A whole herd of hadrosaurs rambles up. They start to eat. It looks like a hadrosaur picnic. Plants are the only food at this picnic. Hadrosaur was an herbivore. This gentle giant only ate plants. It lived in forests and swamps where pine trees and other conifers grew. Hadrosaur ripped needles, twigs, and seeds from the trees with its bill. It ground up the tough plant parts with hundreds of teeth. When the teeth wore out, new ones popped up to take their place.
Hadrosaurs were plant eaters.
6
7
A Hadrosaur Picnic This hadrosaur is not alone. A whole herd of hadrosaurs rambles up. They start to eat. It looks like a hadrosaur picnic. Plants are the only food at this picnic. Hadrosaur was an herbivore. This gentle giant only ate plants. It lived in forests and swamps where pine trees and other conifers grew. Hadrosaur ripped needles, twigs, and seeds from the trees with its bill. It ground up the tough plant parts with hundreds of teeth. When the teeth wore out, new ones popped up to take their place.
Hadrosaurs were plant eaters.
6
7
Taking a Stroll Hadrosaur feet squish down in a muddy swamp. The feet leave tracks. Over millions of years the footprints harden into stone. Scientists study the tracks to learn about hadrosaur feet. The tracks leave clues about how hadrosaur walked.
Hadrosaurs walking in mud, left footprints that would later become fossils.
8
9
Taking a Stroll Hadrosaur feet squish down in a muddy swamp. The feet leave tracks. Over millions of years the footprints harden into stone. Scientists study the tracks to learn about hadrosaur feet. The tracks leave clues about how hadrosaur walked.
Hadrosaurs walking in mud, left footprints that would later become fossils.
8
9
Fossils tell stories of things that lived long, long ago. A fossil comes from something that was once alive. A bone can make a fossil when it turns to stone over millions of years. Footprints in hardened mud can make fossils. Fossils show what hadrosaur and other dinosaurs looked like.
Hadrosaur had feet with toes. The back feet had three toes and the front feet had four toes. Tough nails on the toes made hooves, like cows’ or horses’ hooves. Hadrosaur was a slow mover. It walked on all four legs when it was grazing. It only walked on its back legs when it had to run. A long, stiff tail helped keep hadrosaur from tipping over.
Scientists study fossils to learn about dinosaurs.
10
11
Fossils tell stories of things that lived long, long ago. A fossil comes from something that was once alive. A bone can make a fossil when it turns to stone over millions of years. Footprints in hardened mud can make fossils. Fossils show what hadrosaur and other dinosaurs looked like.
Hadrosaur had feet with toes. The back feet had three toes and the front feet had four toes. Tough nails on the toes made hooves, like cows’ or horses’ hooves. Hadrosaur was a slow mover. It walked on all four legs when it was grazing. It only walked on its back legs when it had to run. A long, stiff tail helped keep hadrosaur from tipping over.
Scientists study fossils to learn about dinosaurs.
10
11
Noisy Beasts A loud noise echoed through the forest. It might have sounded like a trumpet. It might have sounded like a horn. The racket came from a hadrosaur with a huge bump on its head. The bump looked like a helmet, but it was made of bone. The bump is called a crest. One kind of hadrosaur had a crest that was bigger than its head. The crest was hollow, or empty inside. The hollow crest might have helped hadrosaur make sounds. The sounds might have warned of danger. The sounds may have been a call to the hadrosaur’s mate. The crest on a Hadrosaur’s head was hollow and might have helped the dinosaur make sounds.
12
13
Noisy Beasts A loud noise echoed through the forest. It might have sounded like a trumpet. It might have sounded like a horn. The racket came from a hadrosaur with a huge bump on its head. The bump looked like a helmet, but it was made of bone. The bump is called a crest. One kind of hadrosaur had a crest that was bigger than its head. The crest was hollow, or empty inside. The hollow crest might have helped hadrosaur make sounds. The sounds might have warned of danger. The sounds may have been a call to the hadrosaur’s mate. The crest on a Hadrosaur’s head was hollow and might have helped the dinosaur make sounds.
12
13
Flat Head and Feathers
Fossils show the tough, bumpy skin of a hadrosaur.
14
Not all hadrosaurs looked alike. Edmontosaurs and other kinds of hadrosaurs did not have crests. They had flat heads. They probably could not make loud noises. An edmontosaur could do another trick, though. It might have been able to blow up part of its head like a balloon. This would have frightened away meat-eating enemies. Scientists think edmontosaur had loose skin around its nose. The dinosaur snorted air from its nose into the loose skin. The skin filled with air and looked very scary. All hadrosaurs had leathery skin covering their bodies. Bumps stuck up from the tough skin. The bumps may have held feathers. Did hadrosaur wear brightly colored feathers of green, red, yellow, and blue?
15
Flat Head and Feathers
Fossils show the tough, bumpy skin of a hadrosaur.
14
Not all hadrosaurs looked alike. Edmontosaurs and other kinds of hadrosaurs did not have crests. They had flat heads. They probably could not make loud noises. An edmontosaur could do another trick, though. It might have been able to blow up part of its head like a balloon. This would have frightened away meat-eating enemies. Scientists think edmontosaur had loose skin around its nose. The dinosaur snorted air from its nose into the loose skin. The skin filled with air and looked very scary. All hadrosaurs had leathery skin covering their bodies. Bumps stuck up from the tough skin. The bumps may have held feathers. Did hadrosaur wear brightly colored feathers of green, red, yellow, and blue?
15
Mountains were forming when hadrosaur was roaming the earth. The mountains grew from cracks in the ground called volcanoes. Hot rock shot out of volcanoes. The hot rock cooled into piles. These piles of rock eventually became mountains.
Cow of the Cretaceous Hadrosaur lived from 145 million to 65 million years ago. It lived in a time called the Cretaceous Period. Because it had hooves and grazed on plants, hadrosaur is sometimes called “the cow of the Cretaceous.” Many kinds of dinosaurs lived during this time, but there were more hadrosaurs than any other kind of dinosaur. They lived in most parts of the world—Alaska, Texas, New Jersey, and parts of Europe and Asia. Earth was warm and wet when hadrosaur lived. Forests and swamps covered much of the land. There were many trees and flowers. All kinds of insects buzzed around.
Hadrosaurs were the most common dinosaurs during the Cretaceous Period.
16
Hadrosaur Home Life Big feet squished along a swampy trail. Hundreds of huge bodies moved and swayed together. A hadrosaur herd was on the move. The herds lumbered slowly from place to place, always on the lookout for food.
17
Mountains were forming when hadrosaur was roaming the earth. The mountains grew from cracks in the ground called volcanoes. Hot rock shot out of volcanoes. The hot rock cooled into piles. These piles of rock eventually became mountains.
Cow of the Cretaceous Hadrosaur lived from 145 million to 65 million years ago. It lived in a time called the Cretaceous Period. Because it had hooves and grazed on plants, hadrosaur is sometimes called “the cow of the Cretaceous.” Many kinds of dinosaurs lived during this time, but there were more hadrosaurs than any other kind of dinosaur. They lived in most parts of the world—Alaska, Texas, New Jersey, and parts of Europe and Asia. Earth was warm and wet when hadrosaur lived. Forests and swamps covered much of the land. There were many trees and flowers. All kinds of insects buzzed around.
Hadrosaurs were the most common dinosaurs during the Cretaceous Period.
16
Hadrosaur Home Life Big feet squished along a swampy trail. Hundreds of huge bodies moved and swayed together. A hadrosaur herd was on the move. The herds lumbered slowly from place to place, always on the lookout for food.
17
Baby Hadrosaurs hatched from eggs laid in a nest.
Hadrosaur herds stopped to raise babies. Hadrosaurs laid eggs in nests. Baby hadrosaurs pecked their way out of the shells. The mothers took care of the babies. The babies were small. They were about 14 inches (36 cm) long. They weighed about one pound (454 g). The Jack Horner found babies grew to be about many fossils of maisasaur 30 feet (nine m) long. eggs, nests, and babies. He found all these things That’s as long as a in Montana. The place school bus. where he found them has Scientists have found many fossilized dinosaur eggs.
18
a nickname. It is called “Egg Mountain.”
19
Baby Hadrosaurs hatched from eggs laid in a nest.
Hadrosaur herds stopped to raise babies. Hadrosaurs laid eggs in nests. Baby hadrosaurs pecked their way out of the shells. The mothers took care of the babies. The babies were small. They were about 14 inches (36 cm) long. They weighed about one pound (454 g). The Jack Horner found babies grew to be about many fossils of maisasaur 30 feet (nine m) long. eggs, nests, and babies. He found all these things That’s as long as a in Montana. The place school bus. where he found them has Scientists have found many fossilized dinosaur eggs.
18
a nickname. It is called “Egg Mountain.”
19
Hadrosaur Hazards A monster reptile slithered through the swamps and rivers. Its name was Deinosuchus, which means “terror crocodile.” Its massive jaws were spiked with razor-sharp teeth. The jaws snapped after the passing hadrosaur herds. The tube-shaped body of Deinosuchus stretched 50 feet (15 m) long. It was almost twice as long as most hadrosaurs. Hadrosaur had more to fear from the terror crocodiles than from the big Tyrannosaurus rex. Scientists in Texas have found Deinosuchus tooth marks on many hadrosaur fossil bones. Duck-billed dinosaurs were not good at fighting. They did not have sharp teeth. They did not have big claws. But they probably had good eyesight and hearing to help them avoid their enemies. A crocodile stalks two hadrosaurs in a swamp.
20
21
Hadrosaur Hazards A monster reptile slithered through the swamps and rivers. Its name was Deinosuchus, which means “terror crocodile.” Its massive jaws were spiked with razor-sharp teeth. The jaws snapped after the passing hadrosaur herds. The tube-shaped body of Deinosuchus stretched 50 feet (15 m) long. It was almost twice as long as most hadrosaurs. Hadrosaur had more to fear from the terror crocodiles than from the big Tyrannosaurus rex. Scientists in Texas have found Deinosuchus tooth marks on many hadrosaur fossil bones. Duck-billed dinosaurs were not good at fighting. They did not have sharp teeth. They did not have big claws. But they probably had good eyesight and hearing to help them avoid their enemies. A crocodile stalks two hadrosaurs in a swamp.
20
21
The First Hadrosaur Find About 65 million years ago, all dinosaurs disappeared. Many scientists think that an asteroid slammed into Earth. The damage could have killed dinosaurs. When one dinosaur died, it plopped into muddy land in what is now New Jersey. The hadrosaur bones washed into the ocean. They fell to the bottom of the sea. States have official Millions of years went by. flags. Many states have The ocean bottom became dry an official state flower or state bird. New Jersey has land again. Farmers in the a state dinosaur. It is the 1800s dug up the bones. The hadrosaur discovered at Haddonfield. School bones were near what has children helped make it the state dinosaur. They helped get a law passed in 1991 that made the hadrosaur the official dinosaur of New Jersey.
Fossil hunters find dinosaur bones buried in dirt and rock.
22
become Haddonfield, New Jersey. A scientist knew the bones were from a dinosaur. The New Jersey hadrosaur was the first dinosaur fossil ever found. Fossil hunters have since found many more dinosaur fossils all over the world.
Glossary asteroid (AS teh roid) — a rock in space bill (BIL) — jaws and beak of a bird or other animal conifer (KON uh fer) — an evergreen tree with needle-shaped leaves and cones crest (KREST) — a tuft or lump on the head of an animal Cretaceous (kre TAY shuss) — a time on Earth from 65 million to 145 million years ago fossil (FOSS uhl) — a bone or some other part of a plant or animal that lived long ago. Hadrosaur (HAD ro sor) — a plant-eating duckbilled dinosaur Tyrannosaurus (ti RAN uh sor us) a big, meat-eating dinosaur
23
The First Hadrosaur Find About 65 million years ago, all dinosaurs disappeared. Many scientists think that an asteroid slammed into Earth. The damage could have killed dinosaurs. When one dinosaur died, it plopped into muddy land in what is now New Jersey. The hadrosaur bones washed into the ocean. They fell to the bottom of the sea. States have official Millions of years went by. flags. Many states have The ocean bottom became dry an official state flower or state bird. New Jersey has land again. Farmers in the a state dinosaur. It is the 1800s dug up the bones. The hadrosaur discovered at Haddonfield. School bones were near what has children helped make it the state dinosaur. They helped get a law passed in 1991 that made the hadrosaur the official dinosaur of New Jersey.
Fossil hunters find dinosaur bones buried in dirt and rock.
22
become Haddonfield, New Jersey. A scientist knew the bones were from a dinosaur. The New Jersey hadrosaur was the first dinosaur fossil ever found. Fossil hunters have since found many more dinosaur fossils all over the world.
Glossary asteroid (AS teh roid) — a rock in space bill (BIL) — jaws and beak of a bird or other animal conifer (KON uh fer) — an evergreen tree with needle-shaped leaves and cones crest (KREST) — a tuft or lump on the head of an animal Cretaceous (kre TAY shuss) — a time on Earth from 65 million to 145 million years ago fossil (FOSS uhl) — a bone or some other part of a plant or animal that lived long ago. Hadrosaur (HAD ro sor) — a plant-eating duckbilled dinosaur Tyrannosaurus (ti RAN uh sor us) a big, meat-eating dinosaur
23
Index crest 12, 15 duck-billed dinosaur 5, 21 Edmontosaur 14 eggs 19 enemies 15, 21 feathers 15 food 6, 17 fossil 11, 19, 20, 23 Haddonfield, New Jersey 23 herds 19, 20
Horner, Jack 19 Maiasaur 19 skin 15 Tyrannosaurus rex 20
Further Reading Bennett, Leonie. Dinosaurs That Ate Plants. Bearport Publishing, 2006. Brown, Charlotte Lewis and Wilson, Phil (Illustrator). The Day the Dinosaurs Died. HarperCollins, 2006. Quigley, Mary. Dinosaur Digs. Heinemann, 2005.
Websites to Visit www.state.nj.us/hangout_nj/cartoonhistory_hadro.html www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/glossary/ Hadrosaur.shtml www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/mesozoic/cretaceous/ www.zoomschool.com/subjects/dinosaurs/dinofossils/Fossiltypes.html
24
