#hardrosaur

[thecoffeeisblack]

Color work in progress for a very surprised Maiasaura peeblesorum hatchling.

[thecoffeeisblack]

Hello, sorry it's been so long since my last post, I kind of got a little side-tracked with real life, but I do have some new paintings in the works, the first of which is this one.

-CONTENT WARNING-This image might cause some anxiety among some people, I did not decide on this image out of cruelty or some juvenile impulse towards implicated violence. I am going for drama not shock-value.

Maiasaura peeblesorum lived during the Late Cretaceous (76.7 million years ago) what would become Montana. In the late 1970s a site in the Two Medicine Formation became the first example of nurturing parental behavior in large dinosaurs; nicknamed "Egg Mountain," the site has yielded more than 200 specimens of Maiasaura ranging in development from embryonic to fully grown adults.

After reaching adulthood, M. peeblesorum could reach lengths of around 30 feet and weigh in at around 3 to 4 tons. They belonged to the Hadrosauridae family, more commonly referred to as "Duck-Billed" dinosaurs.

Hatchlings would have been only about the size of a house cat, the perfect size for fleet-footed predators like Troodon to spirit away while their parents weren't paying attention.