Lambeosaurus was a hadrosaurid ornithischian that lived in the Late Cretaceous. Lambeosaurus lived in North America and is one of the more well-known hadrosaurs. However, it isn’t as famous as its relatives Corythosaurus or Parasaurolophus. Lambeosaurus was an herbivore and belonged to the Lambeosaurini, a group that consisted of the crested hadrosaurs.
Lambeosaurus had a hatchet-shaped crest on its head with a small ‘handle’ jutting out backwards. Lambeosaurus and its relatives Corythosaurus, Hypacrosaurus, and Olorotitan. Lambeosaurus was slightly younger than Corythosaurus, but was very similar. Juveniles were near indistinguishable. Lambeosaurs, while usually quadrupedal, could run on two legs often, just like most hadrosaurs and iguanodonts.
Lambeosaurus was discovered by Lawrence Lambe and it was named after him (hence Lambeosaurus, or “Lambe’s lizard”). These animals were very common in North America in the Late Cretaceous, and would have been a favorite prey of tyrannosaurs and raptor alike. Unlike their cousins the mighty ceratopsians and ankylosaurs, hadrosaurs didn’t have any armor or spiky weapons to defend against such attacks, but they could run away.
Anay Ganesh 