A Poem About Parasaurolophus

Whilst delivering a dinosaur and fossil workshop with a Year 1 class, we were asked to help inspire the children by providing some inspirational poems about prehistoric animals. The class had been looking at poetry and its rhythmic qualities, writing poems about animals that lived close to the Poles when they were studying “life in the freezer” during the first part of the Spring Term. The teacher wanted to reintroduce this exercise, but this time to tie it in with the topic for the remainder of the Spring Term – dinosaurs.

A Poem About Parasaurolophus

Parasaurolophus poem.
A poem about the hadrosaur Parasaurolophus.  Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Poems in the Dinosaur and Fossil Workshop

Fortunately, the Everything Dinosaur fossil expert had spotted numerous dinosaur and fossil themed poems during his many school visits and he was able to share some of these resources with the teaching team. Our team member had even come across a short piece of prose dedicated to the Late Cretaceous duck-billed dinosaur Parasaurolophus, a plant-eater with a bizarre head crest.

The Duck-billed Dinosaur Parasaurolophus

Mojo Parasaurolophus dinosaurs.
The Mojo Parasaurolophus dinosaur models (biped and quadruped).  Note the bizarre head crest.

The models in the image (above) can be found in the Mojo Fun models range.

To view this range: Mojo Fun Prehistoric and Extinct Figures.

Poetic Parasaurolophus

The role the crest played is debated by palaeontologists. It may have had a flap of skin, attaching the crest to the back of the neck and this might have been brightly coloured, allowing the crest to be used as an effective device for visual communication. The crest itself, could have played a role in signalling, perhaps its size and length demonstrated maturity or fitness for breeding. The dinosaur’s nostrils were connected to the crest by a series of complicated hollow tubes.

Some palaeontologists have speculated that the crest could have acted as an amplifier or resonating device giving these dinosaurs very distinctive calls.

Whatever the purpose of that head crest, it was good to find a poem about a “tooting” Parasaurolophus!

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

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