Saurolophus
by Sean B.
The Saurolophus is a duck-billed dinosaur. It looked like a fat raptor with a duck- bill and a horn. It is believed that his horn was used to attract mates by inflating it and making loud noises.
It evolved like this: first he evolved a vertebral column and braincase (Vertebrates), then jaws (Gnathostomes), next four limbs (Tetrapods), water tight egg (Amniotes), pair of openings in the palate (Sauropsids), a hole in the hip socket (Dinosaurs), then a backward-pointing protrusion of the pubis bone (Ornithischians), and last he evolved some chewing teeth (Ornithopods).
According to our cladogram the Saurolophus is most closely related to the corythosaurus that looks the same, only instead of a horn it has a fin on its head. It also says that the most advanced trait they share is better chewing teeth. However he is actually most closely related to the anatotitan. The way you find what it is most closely related to is you trace the branch down and see which animal’s branch meets up with it first.
Last updated April 7, 2007.