Parasaurolophus walkeri

The above profile for Parasaurolophus walkeri covers its temporal range, fossil location, crest function, and paleopathology evidence, with additional palaeontological information and references provided below

Parasaurolophus walkeri was a large hadrosaurid, a duck-billed dinosaur that is part of the Lambeosaurine (crested) group of hadrosaurs. Parasaurolophus walkeri was named in 1922 by palaeontologist William Parks. Parasaurolophus like other hadrosaurids was an herbivore and an active dinosaur, capable of moving both bipedally and quadrupedally.

There are three known species of Parasaurolophus; Parasaurolophus walkeri as covered in this fact file, Parasaurolophus tubicen, and Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus. P. tubicen is known from New Mexico, USA, and P. crytocristatus is known from New Mexico and Utah, USA. I will not go into too much detail here about these other Parasaurolophus species, as I will be covering them both in later fact files.

Fossilised remains of Parasaurolophus walkeri have been identified in Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada. Dinosaur Provincial Park is one of the most diverse dinosaur fossil localities in the world and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also one of my top fossil locations I would love to explore and do fieldwork in one day. Fossils of many different dinosaur groups have been discovered at Dinosaur Provincial Park covering the following dinosaur groups; Ceratopsia, Hadrosauridae, Ankylosauridae, Ornithomimidae, Tyrannosauridae and many more.

The sun setting over Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Alberta, Canada. The Alberta badlands is well known for being one of the richest dinosaur fossil locales in the world. Image credit: Adobe Stock, 2023.

Many ornithopod dinosaur specimens have been found with injuries and displaying disease, Parasaurolophus is no exception to this. The 2020 paper by Bertozzo and co-authors examined Parasaurolophus walkeri (ROM 768) in detail, providing a morphological analysis of the paleopathology injuries on the specimen.

The swollen area of the jaw and dental lesion in the left maxilla is potential evidence for periodontal disease. With the dorsal vertebrae displaying lesions in dorsal eight along with dorsal seven being fused with the caudal margin, presenting bone overgrowth. The fourth, fifth and sixth dorsal ribs exhibit fractures as well, these fractures demonstrate evidence of healing.

The injuries sustained by ROM 768 were not the main cause of death however and it is suspected that the dinosaur survived for a period of between one to four months. Such paleopathology research is providing a much deeper understanding of the lives of hadrosaurids, how they recovered from injuries and disease.

Parasaurolophus walkeri has seen a wide array of palaeontological research from its cranial crest to its ecomorphospace. It has also appeared in many forms of media over the years from toys to video games, documentaries, books, palaeoart and films. It is a recognisable hadrosaur due to its distinguished skull structure, its hollow tubular crest and has appeared in all the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World films.

The Parasaurolophus in Jurassic World: Dominion. Image credit: Amazon.com, 2023.

The Parasaurolophus in Jurassic World: Dominion displays a number of palaeontological changes to make the dinosaur more up to date in comparison to previous film versions.

Owen Grady catches a Parasaurolophus in this sequence from Jurassic World: Dominion.

Palaeontological changes include the backward curving crest being covered in skin and the skull being less shrink wrapped, with more defined muscle around the jugal. The rhamphotheca/beak is also more defined in comparison to the Parasaurolophus seen in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. The dinosaur in Dominion has a thicker neck and is much bulkier compared to previous iterations. The Parasaurolophus depiction below from The Lost World: Jurassic Park looks quite different in comparison.

Male Parasaurolophus walkeri artwork for The Lost World: Jurassic Park by artist Crash McCreery. This Jurassic Park interpretation of the Parasaurolophus is much thinner and deer like compared to what this hadrosaurid actually looked like. Image credit: Jurassic Collectables, 2023.

I hope you have found this profile and additional palaeontological info interesting. Be sure to give the website a follow to keep up to date with the latest content. Do check out the scicomm links page where you can find all my science communication outreach.