All Maiasaura Reviews

The discovery and description of fossil hadrosaur nesting grounds in the Cretaceous of North America provided some of the best evidence for parental care in dinosaurs. The association of fossils at the so-called ‘egg mountain’ site in Montana included eggs, babies and adults of a single species of dinosaur; crushed egg shells indicated that the babies spent time in the nest after hatching and were probably looked after by adults of the same species.

The Late Cretaceous hadrosaur Maiasaura has become famous for being the first large dinosaur to be discovered alongside direct evidence that it cared for its young. Fossil nests associated with this dinosaur show that young dinosaurs stayed in the nest well after hatching. First discovered in Montana and described by Jack Horner, its name means “good mother lizard”.