Maiasaura Quiz: Good Mother Lizard and Egg Mountain

This Maiasaura quiz digs into the duck-billed dinosaur that changed how scientists think about dinosaur parents. Play 10 interactive questions on the meaning of its name, Jack Horner and Bob Makela, the 1978 find, Egg Mountain in Montana, nests and hatchlings, herding, plant-eating beaks, the Late Cretaceous and its trip to space in 1985.

Start Maiasaura Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Name
What does Maiasaura mean?
Finder
Which paleontologist named Maiasaura with Bob Makela?
State
In which US state was Maiasaura found?
Site
What is the famous nesting site called?
Type
What kind of dinosaur was Maiasaura?
Diet
What did Maiasaura eat?
Babies
What did the nests suggest about Maiasaura?
Herds
How did Maiasaura likely live?
Age
When did Maiasaura live?
Space
Where did Maiasaura fossil material travel in 1985?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What does Maiasaura mean?
Answer: Good mother lizard
The name ends in -saura for a female.
Q2: Which paleontologist named Maiasaura with Bob Makela?
Answer: Jack Horner
He later advised on Jurassic Park.
Q3: In which US state was Maiasaura found?
Answer: Montana
Its remains are common there.
Q4: What is the famous nesting site called?
Answer: Egg Mountain
Many nests were found.
Q5: What kind of dinosaur was Maiasaura?
Answer: A duck-billed hadrosaur
It had a broad beak.
Q6: What did Maiasaura eat?
Answer: Plants
It ground food with many teeth.
Q7: What did the nests suggest about Maiasaura?
Answer: Parents cared for young
Young stayed in nests.
Q8: How did Maiasaura likely live?
Answer: In large herds
Huge bone beds were found.
Q9: When did Maiasaura live?
Answer: Late Cretaceous
About 76 million years ago.
Q10: Where did Maiasaura fossil material travel in 1985?
Answer: Into space
It flew on a space shuttle.

Maiasaura Quiz – Good Mother Lizard and Egg Mountain

Maiasaura, meaning good mother lizard, was named in 1979 by Jack Horner and Bob Makela after fossils were found in Montana in 1978. It was a duck-billed hadrosaur that lived in the Late Cretaceous, about 76 million years ago.

At a site called Egg Mountain, scientists found many nests with eggs and young. Babies seemed to stay in the nests while still small, which suggested parents fed and protected them. This changed the idea that dinosaurs left their young alone.

Maiasaura ate plants with a broad beak and rows of grinding teeth, and huge bone beds show it lived in large herds. In 1985, fossil material from Maiasaura flew into space on a space shuttle mission, making it one of the first dinosaurs to go into orbit.

What This Quiz Teaches

Dinosaur fans will enjoy these questions.

What its name means
Who found it
Where nests were found
How it raised young
How it lived

Did You Know?

Maiasaura is Montana's state fossil.
Adults grew to about 9 meters long.
Its nests were spaced about one adult length apart.
Babies grew quickly in their first year.
Horner's finds helped inspire scenes in Jurassic Park.