Impressive Edmontosaurus Dinosaur Ulna from Hell Creek Formation

Description: This is a large solid bone, the ulna (lower foreleg bone) of an Edmontosaurus hadrosaurid dinosaur. Heavy in the hand, it has been very well curated, is matrix free and exhibits quite nicely. It would compliment any collection of dinosaur fossils.

The great thing about fossil collecting is that anyone with a little initiative, a bit of luck and some basic knowledge has the possibility to make a wonderful discovery. According to the amateur collector, “This bone was ID'd at The Black Hills Institute at Hill City, SD as a Lower Front Leg Bone (ulna), 98% complete, from a HADROSAUR, EDMONTOSAURUS, "DUCK BILL" DINOSAUR. The bone was found on private land with permission of owner, "HELL CREEK FORMATION", Perkins County, South Dakota. The bone was found in pieces and glued back together using Palo Bond glues and cracks filled and painted with a contrasting brown acrylic paint, then a coat of PVA was applied over the whole bone. The light colored pieces were the ones that first caught my attention and the rest were found in the ground near by.”

Background: The hadrosaurs are known as the duck-billed dinosaurs due to the similarity of their head to that of modern ducks. In some species, most notably Anatotitan, the whole front of the skull was flat and broadened out to form a beak, ideal for clipping leaves and twigs from the forests of Asia, Europe and North America. However, the back of the mouth contained literally thousands of teeth suitable for grinding food before it was swallowed. Hadrosaurs, like their iguanodontian cousins, had a rudimentary dental specialization analogous to incisors and molars. This has been hypothesized to have been a crucial factor in the success of this group in the Cretaceous, compared to the sauropods which were still largely dependent on gastroliths for grinding their food.