Olorotitan

The herbivorous Olorotitan is a genus of hadrosaurid with a distinctive duck-billed snout and a striking crest on top of its head, and its name – which translates to ‘titanic swan’ – is a reference to its long neck. It was one of the last dinosaurs to exist in the wild, dying out in the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period, and could grow up to 10m in length

Discovery

The first Olorotitan remains were found in Amur, Russia around the turn of the millennium, when researchers uncovered a near-complete skeleton from the Udurchukan Formation – in fact, it was the most complete dinosaur specimen ever found in Russia. In 2003, it was classified as a new genus by celebrated Belgian paleontologist Pascal Godefroit.

Palaeoecology

Olorotitan existed during the Late Cretaceous period, around 66m years ago, and co-existed with many species of marine reptile as well as other dinosaurs including the apex predator Tarbosaurus, a cousin of the infamous Tyrannosaurus.