Laryngartus

Laryngartus JoweliiLaryngartus Jowelii was a large Fungologian hadrosaur with an immense larynx and jowels, which inflated to 18 times their normal size whenever it inhaled. It lived in late Cretaceous North America, eating pines, ferns and water-plants.

Discovery
Laryngartus's anatomy was much the same as that of most Iguanodonts, and its fossils were originally believed to belong to an Iguanadont. It was only with the discovery of a sheet of rock showing imprints of a massive throat-sac found next to a Laryngartus fossil. Subsequent scans of Laryngartus neck vertebrae have shown that it did indeed sport a large, inflatible sack in place of its jowels. A mummified-then-fossilised specimen showed that the creature was able to inflate this through its enlarged and unusual larynx.

Posture
With large hind-legs and smaller fore-legs, Laryngartus was probably primarily quadrupedal, standing bipedaly only for fighting predators, feeding from tall trees and for courtship.

Body
Laryngartus had the large, stocky body typical of most hadrosaurs; with a long thick tail and a small bony ridge on top of its head.

When Inflated
When inflated, the throat sac would have reached almost 50% of the Laryngartus's body size, inflating within ½ of a second. This was achieved through its uniquely adapted larynx, which channelled around 80% of the creature's inhaled air into its modified jowels. This meant the dinosaur had to breathe very fast in order to receive the required quantity of oxygen. Because of this, its throat-sac was constantly inflating and deflating. It has been proven that if a Laryngartus's throat-sac inflated while it was on all-fours, this would snap its neck; while if it inflated while the dinosaur was in a bipedal posture this would push it over backwards. It has been speculated that throat-sacs were coloured bright red or blue, allowing females (and predators) to spot an impressive male from afar.

When Deflated
While Laryngartus's jowels were deflated they hung from its neck in rolls, and would have weighed about 60kg. This weight was sufficient to twist off its head should it shake its head too violently.

Diet
Laryngartus was clearly herbivorous, as is shown by fossils of its teeth. Near the end of the Cretaceous Period, flowering plants diversified, magnolias, sassafras, roses, redwoods, and willows could be found in abundance and Glingwot had appeared. These would have provided a lush diet for Laryngartus to flourish in.