“The Great Herd Animal of the Cretaceous Floodplains”
Binomial Edmontosaurus annectens · ed-MON-toh-SOR-us
Late Cretaceous · 73-66 Ma
IllustrationEdmontosaurus fossil records in Fossil Atlas are mapped as selected modern discovery locations, with 55 source-backed records currently shown. Known from Late Cretaceous western North America, including Hell Creek, Lance, Frenchman, Horseshoe Canyon, and related units. Key mapped formations in the current dataset include Hell Creek Formation, Lance Fm, Lance Formation?. These pins are fossil record locations, not a complete ancient habitat map.
Edmontosaurus was a large hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur, from Late Cretaceous North America. It is less flashy than horned or predatory dinosaurs, but it is crucial for understanding the plant-eating side of latest Cretaceous ecosystems. Fossil Atlas maps selected records and links them to formations where available.
Drawn true to scale on a metre ruler.
Length
measured12 m · 39 ft
Largest known specimens
Height
measured3.0 m · 10 ft
Body mass
estimate4,000 kg · 8,800 lb
Typical adult
Top speed
estimate40 km/h · 25 mph
Modelled, debated
Teeth
measured≈ 1000
Brain : body (EQ)
estimate1.1
Encephalization quotient
Edmontosaurus was one of the most abundant large herbivores in latest Cretaceous North America. Its dental battery, with up to a thousand teeth stacked in self-replacing columns, could grind coarse vegetation that most other dinosaurs could not process. It was probably a herd animal, and some evidence suggests seasonal migration across the Laramidian coastal plains.
Dental battery
Hundreds of tightly packed teeth forming a flat grinding surface, constantly replaced from below as old ones wore down. One of the most efficient plant-processing systems among non-avian dinosaurs.
Feeding
A duck-like beak for cropping, backed by the tooth battery for grinding. Edmontosaurus could handle tougher plant material than most contemporaries.
Skin
Several specimens preserve skin impressions showing a pebbly texture without armor. One mummified specimen from Wyoming even preserves soft tissue.
Fleshy comb
Some specimens preserve the outline of a fleshy comb or crest on the head, not made of bone and therefore rarely preserved. Its function is unknown.
Position of this animal’s known range across 252 million years of the Mesozoic and beyond.
73-66 million years ago
Edmontosaurus was a duck-billed dinosaur with dense tooth batteries.
Some specimens preserve skin impressions.
It gives Hell Creek a major plant-eating animal beyond horned dinosaurs.
Edmontosaurus records are useful for classroom ecosystem comparisons.
Lawrence Lambe named Edmontosaurus in 1917, though related specimens had been collected for decades. A mummified specimen collected in Wyoming in the early 1900s provided skin impressions and some soft tissue, making it one of the most detailed hadrosaur specimens known. A second mummified specimen, nicknamed Dakota, was found in North Dakota in 1999 and studied through CT scanning and chemical analysis, adding further detail to its anatomy and soft tissue.
Animals known from the same deposits and time as Edmontosaurus.
Other members of Hadrosauridae.
Parasaurolophus
A crested hadrosaur from slightly earlier Cretaceous deposits, famous for its long hollow tubular crest.
Corythosaurus
A helmet-crested hadrosaur from the Canadian Dinosaur Park Formation.
Maiasaura
A hadrosaur from Montana known from nesting sites, providing evidence for parental care in hadrosaurs.
Pins show selected fossil records for Edmontosaurus; use them as modern discovery evidence, not a complete range map. Modern fossil discovery map: pins show where selected fossil and specimen records were found today, not ancient Earth positions. What does this mean?
Specimen evidence
These are sourced specimen assets, separate from reconstruction artwork. Only media with clear open or reusable rights is displayed by default.
USNM V 7737 femur
Michael Brett-Surman
USNM V 4698_1
Michael Brett-Surman
USNM V 7737 tibia
Michael Brett-Surman
USNM V 7737 caudals 1
Michael Brett-Surman
Edmontosaurus is represented here by selected fossil records from known from late cretaceous western north america, including hell creek, lance, frenchman, horseshoe canyon, and related units. Fossil Atlas maps those records as modern discovery locations.
No. The map shows modern fossil discovery locations from selected records. Ancient habitat and paleogeographic reconstructions are separate questions.
The current Fossil Atlas records include Hell Creek Formation. Formation coverage depends on the selected dataset and may not be complete.
Yes. Use the expedition card generator to turn the Edmontosaurus map and specimen profile into a shareable card.
Selected fossil records from PBDB and museum biodiversity aggregators. This is not a complete fossil count by country; source labels and confidence notes help distinguish canonical paleobiology records from specimen-media records.
Reconstruction images are labeled illustrations and do not represent fossil evidence. Size, speed, and bite-force figures are typical published estimates and remain subject to revision as new specimens are described.
Maps use curated PBDB, museum, and specimen-source records with visible caveats.
Pins show where fossils were found or reported today, not exact ancient habitat positions.
Artwork is labeled separately from specimen photos, maps, and source records.
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