Shantungosaurus is a duck-billed dinosaur and the largest ornithopod ever discovered. These dinosaurs lived in the late Cretaceous period 78-74 million years ago, in what is now China. Their skulls are over 1.6 meters long.
Some scientists believe Shantungosaurus was overestimated and that it might have been only 13 tons - even then, it would still be the largest hadrosaur in the world.
Due to its flat snout, the hadrosaur was also called the duck-billed dinosaur. Although they have no teeth in the front of their mouths, the back of their jaws is filled with thousands of tiny teeth. Some members of this group have large crowns on their heads, probably for vocalization.
Shandongosaurus (red) compared to other large ornithopods, including Magna Paulia (yellow), Edmontosaurus (brown), Saurus (blue), Hypsibema (orange), and Sharon (purple) and Iguanodon (green).
