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Hadrosaurus
An adult Hadrosaurus has been estimated to be about 30 feet (9.1 meters) long and weigh around 7 tons. Like other duck-billed dinosaurs, Hadrosaurus is believed to have generally been bipedal, but could walk on 4 limbs when feeding. The story of the discovery of Hadrosaurus is quite interesting. The first fossilized bones of the animal were discovered by John Estaugh Hopkins in 1838 near Haddonfield, New Jersey, who then displayed them in his home. These bones were seen by William Parker Foulke in 1858, who returned to the excavation site (now a national historic landmark - the "Hadrosaurus Foulkii Leidy Site") and found additional bones in conjunction with a paleontologist, Joseph Leidy. Leidy subsequently named the species Hadrosaurus foulkii in honor of his collaborator.  Leidy wrote a description of the Hadrosaurus, complete with illustrations, in 1860, but the American Civil War delayed publication until 1865. Leidy, contrary to prevailing views at the time, correctly reconstructed the skeleton as bipedal, and a complete the skeleton was reconstructed in this form in 1868 - the first mounted dinosaur skeleton.  It should be noted however, that only one skeleton of Hadrosaurus has ever been found, and this specimen lacks a skull (among other bones). Reconstructions of the animal are therefore usually done using skulls of related species. Because of the lack of specimens, which makes it difficult to perform comparisons with other species, many scientists consider Hadrosaurus to be a "nomen dubium" - a dubious name. Hadrosaurus Timeline:Hadrosaurus was a herbivore (plant-eater) that lived from 80 to 75 million years ago
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Hadrosaurus Facts
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