Here we have the tops of two hadrosaur skulls and thus the crested parts of them. Below is Corythosaurus though obviously rather more developed that the individual I showed yesterday. Above that is the famous Parasaurolophus with its long posteriorly directed tube-like crest. Hadrosaur crests have had all manner of function assigned to them (as, would you believe, we discuss in this paper) but there’s little to evidence to support most of the more extreme ideas (like it being a snorkel in Parasaurolophus despite, you know, not having any openings) and in the majority of cases they are best interpreted as being signalling structures.
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They’re beautiful. That’s one thing I always liked about hadrosaurs, the variety of crests. I can imagine a mixed herd moving across the landscape and all their varied calls in mating season.