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Can you do Lambeosaurus Lambei ??? Please?
Day 365#: Lambeosaurus lambei Today’s animal of the day is Lambeosaurus lambei ! Image credit: user Narwhaler on the Prehistoric Kingdom Wiki (game credit: Prehistoric Kingdom by Blue Meridian) Lambeosaurus lambei was a species of hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the western half of North America. It is best known for its distinctive axe-shaped crest, which, like other species of hadrosaurs, was hollow and acted as a resonating chamber to make its vocalizations louder. This could have helped with communicating over long distances, as well as being used for elaborate mating calls. It’s possible that in addition to their loud mating calls, these crests could have also been brightly colored (at least for the males) to make them more attractive to potential mates. Based on the fossils of other hadrosaurids with large crests, like Parasaurolophus, it’s also possible that females had much smaller crests, but this hasn’t been proven for Lambeosaurus. Image credit: cisiopurple on DeviantArt While Lambeosaurus wasn’t the largest species of hadrosaur, it was still a fairly large animal and was able to grow up to 25 ft long and weigh up to 3.9 tons! It was what’s known as a facultative biped, meaning that they mostly would walk on four legs, which was easier for them and to conserve stamina, but could switch to running on two legs if confronted by a predator in order to run faster. Based on the wear and tear of fossilized Lambeosaurus teeth, paleontologists think it had a more generalist diet and could’ve fed on a wide variety of different prehistoric plants, while other types of hadrosaurs would adapt to feed on one specific type of food. Their diverse diet would have allowed them to avoid direct competition with other large herbivores over food. For example, if a species that preferred to feed on conifers moved into the area and prevented the Lambeosaurs from eating conifers, then they could just switch to ferns or another food source. Image credit: James Field Lambeosaurus is actually one of the few dinosaurs we have plenty of juvenile specimens of, though many of these specimens were originally misidentified as the now dubious genus of hadrosaur, Procheneosaurus. Thanks to these juvenile specimens, we now know that baby Lambeosaurs lacked a head crest, and it would take a few years for them to start to develop. Even then, it would take even longer for them to look like the large axe-shaped crests of the adults. Based on the nesting sites of other species of hadrosaurs, like Maiasaura, it’s likely that Lambeosaurus parents would have taken care of their young for a long time, even after they were old enough to leave the nest. They probably had to find their own food once they were old enough, but the adults would lead them to where they could find food and water, as well as protect them from any potential predators. Image credit: David Armsby/Dead Sound (Dinosauria: A More Ancient Spring) Lambeosaurus lambei would have lived in a lush coastal environment with lots of nearby rivers. Because of the large quantity of plant life, this area (which consists of what are now parts of Montana and Alberta) was home to a wide variety of herbivorous dinosaurs. Centrosaurus, Chasmosaurus, Corythosaurus, Euoplocephalus (which I covered on day 17#), Parasaurolophus, Styracosaurus, and even another species of Lambeosaurus (L. magnicristatus ). It was around the same size as Lambeosaurus lambei, but lacked the spur on its crest that gave L. lambei’s crest its distinctive axe-like shape. The different crest shapes would have not only made it easier for the different species to identify other members of their own kind by sight, but would have also made their calls sound slightly different. In addition to these fellow herbivores, Lambeosaurus lambei would have also lived alongside fearsome predators like Daspletosaurus and Gorgosaurus. It’s likely that in addition to its mating calls, the crest of Lambeosaurus would have also helped it warn other members of its kind when these two giant predatory theropods were nearby. Image credit: David Armsby/Dead Sound (Dinosauria: A More Ancient Spring) Usually, I like to discuss the paleontological history of prehistoric animals before I go into what it was like when it was alive. However, Lambeosaurus lambe actually has a somewhat convoluted history, so I decided to wait till the end to share it. Both the genus and species name honor Canadian paleontologist Lawrence M. Lambe; however, its remains were actually first discovered by paleontologist Charles Hazelius Sternberg during a 1913 expedition along the Belly River in Alberta, Canada. These remains consisted of a partial skull, bits of the skeleton, and some skin impressions. They were given to Lambe, who decided that they belonged to the pre-existing species known as Trachodon marginatus. At the time, there were two other known species of Trachodon, and based on some morphological differences in this new material, Lambe thought that T. marginatus was actually its own distinct genus. Which he named Stephanosaurus. However, some other paleontologists argued that this new material didn’t match the rest of the fossils that had originally been classified as Trachodon marginatus, and Lambe would fight with them about it for years. Image credit: user Santi801 on the Prehistoric Kingdom Wiki (game credit: Prehistoric Kingdom by Blue Meridian) Eventually, it was determined that the fossils found by Sternberg were different from the original fossils assigned to Trachodon marginatus. Shortly afterwards, both Stephanosaurus and the other species of Trachodon were determined to be invalid since all the fossils assigned to them actually belonged to numerous types of already known species of hadrosaurs. Most of the fossils of Stephanosaurus/T. marginatus were reassigned to Kritosaurus. Some paleontologists wanted to keep Stephanosaurus as a valid genus since Sternberg’s fossils were determined not to belong to any already described species of hadrosaur. However, the laws of zoological nomenclature stated that because these remains were determined not to be Stephanosaurus before it was decided that all the other fossils assigned to it belonged to Kritosaurus, those remains couldn’t be reassigned to Stephanosaurus and had to be named something else. So in 1923, paleontologist William A. Parks named the Sternberg fossils Lambeosaurus lambe to honor Lawrence Lambe, who had died a few years prior in 1919. I hope I explained that well. The rules for naming plants and animals can sometimes be really weird and overcomplicated. Image credit: James Gurney (from the Dinotopia series) Thanks to anon (though I’m pretty sure I know who you are) for requesting this species, and happy one-year anniversary! Learning about a new random animal each and every day has been a lot of fun. Thank you all so much for letting me info-dump about animals to you all. I still have one more requested species to do that was submitted before the deadline, then I’m going back to my normal random animal generator.
The Silent Weaver’s Morning Masterpiece In the early hours on Krk Island, an ancient architecture reveals itself against the rising sun. The European garden spider ( Araneus diadematus ) sits at the epicenter of a geometric wonder, its web heavy with the morning dew brought in by the fading bura wind. Interestingly, the silk threads spun by these spiders are phenomenally complex structures—proportional to their size, they are stronger than steel and incredibly elastic, capable of absorbing the impact of flying prey without snapping. When the natural backlighting hits the dew-covered silk, it transforms a simple predator’s trap into a crown of liquid diamonds. A fragile, fierce moment of island life captured in pure, manual light.
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