Edmontosaurus Dinosaur Tooth from Hell Creek

Description: Presented is an excellent large tooth from a duck-billed dinosaur named Edmontosaurus.

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 specialisation 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.

Recently the Fossil Mall associates purchased a large lot of dinosaur, reptile and mammal fossils from our primary collector. He lives in Montana and has over fifteen years of field collecting experience. Ten days were spent in obtaining this lot. The fossils were discovered in Cretaceous stream channel deposits. Some were surface collected as float; many were partially eroded out of the low-lying surrounding gullies and bad lands. The process continued upon his return home. There the specimens had to be cleaned and identified, a long and tedious process that lasted many days. Upon completion, all the specimens were photographed and submitted to us at the Fossil Mall for consideration of purchase. Needless to say, we bought the whole batch.

A word regarding the legality of these fossils. Our provider only collects on private ranch and farmlands of Montana and S. Dakota. His relationships with these landowners have been cultivated over many years of door knocking and often difficult negotiations. Our collector, in the beginning stage of a possible collecting arrangement, cannot even contemplate a deal until he has walked the land holdings to discover if there are ancient remains to be found.