Dinosaur reproduction

Dinosaur reproduction shows correlation with archosaur physiology, with newborns hatching from eggs that were laid in nests.

Medullary bone has been found in specimens of sub-adult size, which suggests that dinosaurs reached sexual maturity rather quickly for such large animals.

[15] Older studies also suggest that dinosaurs like the Lambeosaurus may have used their specialized hollow horn structures to create vocalizations specific to mating.

[13] Large scrapes in the sandstone of Colorado suggests that dinosaurs may have danced in order to impress a potential mate, a behavior seen in their successors, birds.

[17] These dinosaurs were found without the presence of egg shells in an oval-shaped nest, meaning that these animals grew together after hatching, potentially with some parental care.

Eggs were then laid in the mound and covered to incubate through organic heat sources like decomposition of the plant material.

However, the authors were unable to determine what specific factors shaped nesting ground choice in the formation's hadrosaurs.

They suggested that behavior, diet, soil condition, and competition between dinosaur species all potentially influenced where hadrosaurs nested.

Tanke has observed that an experienced collector could actually discover multiple juvenile hadrosaur specimens in a single day.

The most common remains of young hadrosaurs in the Dinosaur Park Formation are dentaries, bones from limbs and feet, as well as vertebral centra.