The Parasaurolophus is a well beloved dinosaur with its most popular appearance in the Jurassic franchise, being one of the most well known herbivores in the dinosaur kingdom. This ancient lizard was best known for its long tubular crest that curves backwards from its skull, which is what gives this dinosaur its name, and the Jurassic franchise really does a good job portraying this characteristic in their films, with a little touch of their own creative license. For many years, paleontologists argued about the purpose of the hollow crest coming out of its skull, where some claimed it was used for acoustic communications, as they generate low frequencies, being able to communicate over long distances. And others argue it was used for thermoregulation when they use their long crest to cool down their brains when it starts to get hot.

The Parasaurolophus lived during the Late Cretaceous Period of North America and measured up to 31 feet long (9.4 meters) and 2.5 tons (2.3 metric tons). This crested lizard belong to the Hadrosauridae family which are dinosaurs that are duck-billed ornithopods that some had elaborate head crests because some lacked elaborate head crests such as the Edmontosaurus and Brachylophosaurus. There are many other dinosaurs that fall into this category, with the Parasaurolophus being one of them. For example, Saurolophus, Corythosaurus, and my personal favorite Maiasaura. There are many other dinosaurs within this family that we have some fragments of fossils discovered, yet not enough to classify them like some already listed here, and the Parasaurolophus is one of the lucky few that we were able to find fossils of from many long years ago.