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Huge but not particularly ferocious, Hadrosaurus foulkii was a plant eater.
In life, Haddonfield's Hadrosaurus foulkii was as much as 10 feet tall at the hips and as long as 23 feet from its nose to the tip of its tail, according to paleontological authorities at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. It was a member of the dinosaur family that later became known as "duckbills" because of the bird-like nature of their jaws and skull structure. Despite its bulk, the animal was not particularly ferocious. Much the same as a large, placid cow, it was a plant eater that browsed leaves and branches along the marshes and shrub lands of the Atlantic coast. It was also a good swimmer and could have regularly lolled about in the water a substantial distance from shore.
Duckbills lived and traveled in herds, not unlike flocks of ponderous birds. They laid eggs in nests. Many paleontologists believe they protected the eggs until hatched and then continued to nurture the brood for a substantial period of time, just as birds do.
Teeming Rookeries of Duckbill Dinosaurs
It is not all that difficult to imagine how the edges of conifer forests along the Cretaceous coast of what is now Pennsylvania were once alive with teeming rookeries of such duckbill dinosaurs. One of those creatures ultimately got into trouble near fast moving water and died. Its body floated out to sea, where it sank and was quickly covered in mud and sediment. After the flesh decayed, the bones absorbed minerals, surviving intact as a skeleton until about 70 million years later when a Haddonfield workman wrenched one from sticky marl, hefted it aloft into harsh sunlight and wondered aloud what it could possibly be. |
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