Bactrosaurus was a herbivore (plant-eater) that lived in eastern
China
during the late Cretaceous period
between about 70 million years ago.
Bactrosaurus was bipedal, walking on two legs, but could go on four legs
when feeding.
An adult Bactrosaurus would have been about 20 feet (6 meters)
long, and been about 6½ feet (2 meters) tall when standing on all fours.
The animal would probably have weighed around 1.5 tons.
Bactrosaurus was originally thought not to have had a crest on its head (which
would make it unusual for an iguanodont), however recent research seems to have
found the partially preserved remains of the base of a crest on the animal's
skull.
Another unusual feature of Bactrosaurus is that the
fossilized
skeleton seems to show evidence that the animal suffered from tumors.
A survey of more than
10,000 dinosaur fossils,
however only found evidence of tumors among Bactrosaurus and its close relatives - not
among any other type of dinosaur. Currently the cause of these tumors is unknown,
but it has been suggested that it may have been caused by some environmental factor,
or perhaps a genetic predisposition to tumors among this group of animals.
The name "Bactrosaurus" means "club lizard", and was chosen
by Charles W. Gilmore in 1933. The name was chosen in reference to the club-shaped
neural spines which project from some of the animal's vertebrae.
"Bactrosaurus" means "club lizard" - a reference to the club-shaped spines projecting from some of the animal's vertebrae.
Bactrosaurus was a member of the Ornithischia ("bird-hipped") order of dinosaurs. What this means, is that although Bactrosaurus was not closely related to birds, it did have similarly shaped pelvic bones.
Bactrosaurus lived about 70 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period.
Bactrosaurus was about 20 feet (6 meters) long, and about 6½ feet (2 meters) high when standing on all fours.
Bactrosaurus weighed about 1.5 tons.
Evidence of tumors have been found in fossilized Bactosaurus skeletons. It is not known whether such tumors were caused by environmental factors or a genetic propensity.
Bactrosaurus was originally thought not to have had a crest on its head, but more recent research has found evidence for the base of an incompletely preserved crest on the animal's skull.
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