Thursday, September 23, 2010

Ladies and Gents, the Kosmoceratops

Kosmoceratops, a relative of the more familiar Triceratops, had one horn over its nose, one over each eye, one protruding from each cheek bone and a row of ten across the frill at the back of its head.

"As far as we know it's the most ornate-headed dinosaur ever found, with so many well-developed horns on its head," Sampson told the Guardian.

Scientists have long speculated about the purpose of dinosaurs' horns. In the past, some suspected that beasts like Triceratops used their headgear to fight off predators, as depicted in the prehistoric clash between a fur-bikinied Raquel Welch and a Triceratops in Ray Harryhausen's 1966 movie, One Million Years BC. Many palaeontologists now believe that dinosaurs' horns were often more for sexual display and fighting off other members of the same species, much like rutting deer.

And also why I love the Guardian.

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