Corythosaurus casuarius

A lambeosaurine hadrosaur of the Late Cretaceous from Alberta, Canada, Corythosaurus is famous for its tall, rounded, helmet-like hollow crest. The nasal passages travel through the crest, so it may have played a role in both visual and auditory displays, and potentially also as an analog to respiratory turbinates (scrolls of bone found in most mammal noses) to recover extra water from breath when exhaling.

Corythosaurus is also represented by “mummy” specimens that preserve lots of skin impressions (not a real mummy!), giving us an unusually good understanding of the scaly skin texture, and overall shape of the animal in life.