Maiasaura Facts for Kids
MY-uh-SORE-uh · its name means “good mother lizard”
A duck-billed dinosaur that cared for its babies in big nesting grounds.
Maiasaura was a duck-billed dinosaur. It laid eggs in a nest made of mud. Its name means good mother lizard.
Maiasaura built nests on the ground and laid eggs in them, and many nests were close together, like a nesting colony of birds. The babies seem to have stayed in the nest after they hatched, so their parents probably brought them food. That is why scientists called it the good mother lizard.
Maiasaura nests were found in Montana, with eggs, bits of eggshell and baby dinosaurs of different ages. The youngest babies had legs that were not yet strong, but some already had teeth that were worn from eating. So scientists decided the babies stayed in the nest and were fed. That showed that some dinosaurs cared for their young, much as birds do. Maiasaura is the state fossil of Montana.
Every dinosaur number is scientists’ best guess from bones, so each one says where it came from.
How big was Maiasaura?
Maiasaura in numbers
| Length (nose to tail) | 25 ft7.5 m1a full-grown one; young ones were smaller |
|---|---|
| Height at the hips | no checked number yet |
| Weight | no checked number yet |
| When it lived | 77 million years ago77 million years ago1about |
| What it ate | leaves, seeds and twigs |
| Fossils found in | Montana, in western North America, especially near the town of Choteau |
| What kind | an ornithopod: a beaked plant-eater that walked on two legs or four |
Wow!
- Its name means good mother lizard.
- Its babies seem to have stayed in the nest and been fed.
- It is the state fossil of Montana.
🦴 Maiasaura’s bones
Books about Maiasaura, free at the library
Ask a grown-up to tap the button: it shows where to borrow a book about Maiasaura for free.
Where was the land back then?
The continents were in different places when Maiasaura lived, 77 million years ago. Open Planet Earth, pick Drifting continents, and slide back in time to see where the land was.
Its neighbours in time
Where these numbers come from
- National Park Service, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, Maiasaura (Q132414), checked 30 October 2026.
To read more: the Natural History Museum’s Dino Directory (see also, not copied).