Herbivore dinosaurs were a major part of the planet’s ecosystems. They fed on a wide range of plants from shrubs to conifers.
Scientists determine a dinosaur’s diet by looking at the coprolites (fossilized stomach matter) that contain plant material. They also look at the teeth patterns to tell if they were herbivores or carnivores.
Brachiosaurus
Brachiosaurus is a species of long-necked dinosaur that lived in North America during the Jurassic Period. Its name means “arm lizard” and it was first named by American paleontologist Elmer Riggs in 1903.
Brachiosaurs are herbivore dinosaurs that eat plants. They are also part of a group of dinosaurs called sauropods. These dinosaurs were very large and had long necks and tails.
They were also very strong and had four pillarlike legs. This was important because they would need to be able to climb and run up trees to eat.
This made them very tall. They are estimated to have been between 30 and 40 feet high. They would have had to eat up to 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of food each day just to survive.
Like other herbivore dinosaurs, they had large mouths. They had a few dozen pencil-like teeth that were pointed and curved like a spoon, similar to the way that we chew our food today.
These were used to rip apart the plant material, but they didn’t have any specialized teeth for breaking it up into smaller pieces. They did, however, have a lot of space in their mouths that they could use to swallow a wide variety of plant matter.
Brachiosaurs also had a lot of air sacs in their bodies, called nares. These air sacs helped them to breathe and were located near their nostrils.
In addition, they had very big nasal bones that were situated atop their head. These were connected to the nares and made it easy for them to breathe when they were eating.
The nares were also used to make sounds, just like Parasaurolophus. These were very loud and could be heard all over the forest.
This behavior was important because it was a very good way for them to find food. It is also a very effective way to communicate with other Brachiosaurs.
Brachiosaurs were also very aggressive dinosaurs. They attacked other dinosaurs that were smaller than them and would even eat babies!
Edmontosaurus
Edmontosaurus is a genus of herbivorous dinosaurs that lived in the late Campanian stage of the Cretaceous Period. It contains two known species: Edmontosaurus regalis and Edmontosaurus annectens. The fossils of these animals have been found in North America, including Alberta and Saskatchewan, and date to 73 and 66 million years ago, respectively.
Edmontosaurus was one of the largest herbivores of its time, and surpassed Tyrannosaurus rex in size. It was a facultative biped, meaning that it could walk on all fours or on two legs. Its ossified tendons made it ineffective for running, and it was not well adapted to swimming like other dinosaurs, so it probably spent most of its time on land.
A fully grown Edmontosaurus could be over a metre long, and the skull of a mature specimen would have been a triangular shape, with a broad front that formed a duck-bill or spoon-bill. The front part of the skull, forming the snout, was covered with horny material to help the animal bite off leaves and branches. The back of the head was shaped like an open-mouthed fish, and the skull held hundreds of small teeth that allowed it to grind through all sorts of plant material (including rotten wood).
In addition, the teeth in the back of the skull formed what is called a “dental battery,” consisting of many replacement teeth, which are arranged in a grinding pattern. When these teeth became worn or damaged, new ones would erupt to replace them.
Because of the many skin impressions and soft tissue fossils that have been discovered, palaeontologists know a great deal about the physical appearance of these dinosaurs. For example, a life reconstruction of an adult Edmontosaurus can show us that it had a bulbous comb structure that was unique to this group of dinosaurs.
Similarly, the scale patterns on its skin can be used to determine what color it was. The color of a modern animal is often determined by the scale pattern on its skin, so we can use these characteristics to better understand the life of an Edmontosaurus in the past.
Parasaurolophus
Parasaurolophus (meaning near lizard crest) is a genus of herbivorous duck-billed dinosaurs, known from fossils found in Canada, Alberta and New Mexico. It is one of the largest dinosaurs to have lived in North America.
It was a diurnal animal, which means that it was active during the day and sleeping at night. Its diet consisted of a variety of plants, including grasses, trees, and shrubs.
In addition to its large crest, Parasaurolophus also had hundreds of tiny teeth in the front of its mouth, designed for grinding plant matter. These teeth were replaced continuously as they became worn out.
Unlike the other dinosaurs in this family, Parasaurolophus walked on two legs. It probably used its front legs to move slowly along the ground, but when it was hunting for food, it used its powerful hind legs to run at high speeds.
Another unique characteristic of Parasaurolophus is its curved, bony crest on the top of the skull. Some scientists thought it was a snorkel for breathing underwater, but now it’s believed that the crest was used for hearing, with tubes inside it that could be blown into to make calls.
The crest of Parasaurolophus was much more extensive than that of sauropods, as it had a higher level of amplification, allowing the dino to produce much louder sounds. These sounds were probably used for defense, attracting mates or communicating with the herd.
Other animals in the family have a more narrow crest, with tubes running from the bottom of the crest to the tip. These tubes are called resonating chambers and they have been linked to auditory communication, with the idea that sounds made in the throat of the dinosaur would pass through the passages and be amplified, so they’d sound louder and have a wider range of frequency.
A more recent discovery is Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus, which has a slightly shorter crest than its larger relatives. This species was also discovered in the Kirtland Formation of New Mexico, and palaeontologists now believe it to be its own species.
Triceratops
Triceratops was a herbivorous dinosaur that lived in what is now North America around 68 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous Period. It had three horns on its skull, a large bony frill that stretched up to 3 feet (1 meter), and a large four-legged body.
It is one of the best-known and most-loved of all dinosaurs and is a popular subject in movies, stamps, and other media. It is also a significant scientific subject due to its unique appearance and behavior.
A huge bony frill grew out from the back of the Triceratops’ skull, covering its neck. The frill was used to defend the dinosaur against carnivorous dinosaurs and predators. It was also used to attract mates.
The frills were shaped in a way that they could change their shape as the dinosaur developed. This allowed scientists to study the growth of Triceratops.
Another interesting feature of Triceratops was its crest, which evolved from the skin over the frill. This crest had unique tissue that was soft and spongy, similar to modern-day Cassowaries.
In addition to its crest, Triceratops had a beak-shaped mouth that could rip off vegetation. This allowed it to eat plants that were too tough or waxy for other herbivores to consume.
It was also able to swallow its prey with its beak, which allowed it to swallow a lot of food at once. This helped it to survive in areas with thick vegetation and dense forests.
Triceratops was one of the last non-avian dinosaur genera to appear before the extinction of the Dinosaurs in the Cretaceous period. It is thought to be the ancestor of Protoceratops, which was first discovered by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1922.
Despite its enormous size, it was a very intelligent dinosaur. It was able to learn quickly and could communicate well. It was able to recognize and differentiate its own form from other animals in its group, as well as the animals that it competed with for resources.
