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Title: New horned dinosaurs discovered
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URL Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/ ... rned-dinosaurs-discovered.html
Published: Sep 22, 2010
Author: N/A
Post Date: 2010-09-22 21:34:49 by Skip Intro
Keywords: None
Views: 6329
Comments: 7
New horned dinosaurs discovered A bizarre dinosaur with a ''crown of horns'' has been discovered by scientists. Kosmoceratops used their impressive armaments to find mates rather than take on predators Kosmoceratops richardsoni was a cousin of the famous Triceratops, but instead of just three horns it had 15. Horns sprouted from its nose, above each eye, and out of its cheeks. In addition, the creature had a bony frill adorned with an extraordinary array of 10 horns. Dr Scott Sampson, from the Utah Museum of Natural History in the US, said: ''Kosmoceratops is one of the most amazing animals known, with a huge skull decorated with an assortment of bony bells and whistles.'' He thought it likely that horned dinosaurs such as Kosmoceratops used their impressive armaments to find mates rather than take on predators such as Tyrannosaurus rex. ''Most of these bizarre features would have made lousy weapons to fend off predators,'' he said. ''It's far more likely that they were used to intimidate or do battle with rivals of the same sex, as well as to attract individuals of the opposite sex.'' The Kosmoceratops fossils were found together with those of another horned dinosaur in the desert terrain of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern-central Utah. The second animal, named Utahceratops gettyi, was the larger of the two, having a skull around seven feet long. It had a large horn over the nose and two short and blunt eye horns projecting sideways rather than upwards, like those of a modern bison. Both dinosaurs walked on four feet and were plant-eaters. Dr Mark Loewen, another member of the Utah Museum of Natural History team which reported the finds in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE, likened Utahceratops to ''a giant rhino with a ridiculously supersized head''. The fossils date back to the Late Cretaceous Period near the end of the dinosaurs' reign, between 65 and 100 million years ago. The dinosaurs inhabited the ''lost continent'' of Laramidia, formed when a shallow sea flooded the central region of north America and split the continent in two for millions of years. The eastern and western land masses are known as Appalachia and Laramidia respectively. Whereas little is known about the plants and animals that lived on Appalachia, the rocks of Laramidia have produced a plethora of dinosaur remains.
Map showing the western interior seaway that divided north America into the "lost continents" of Laramidia and Appalachia
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#2. To: Skip Intro (#0)
Horns sprouted from its nose, above each eye, and out of its cheeks. In addition, the creature had a bony frill adorned with an extraordinary array of 10 horns. That's one horny dinosaur. You'd think more of them would have been found. Some things never change. The horny guys get the girls.
Handsome devil, wouldn't you say?
Looks like a dude who would run up his credit card and expect his "sweetie" to handle things. Lesson to women: Don't trust lizard men, no matter the size of their "horns."
#7. To: Suzanne (#4)
{;^D
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestKosmoceratops richardsoni was a cousin of the famous Triceratops, but instead of just three horns it had 15.
He thought it likely that horned dinosaurs such as Kosmoceratops used their impressive armaments to find mates...
#3. To: Wood_Chopper (#2)
Some things never change. The horny guys get the girls.
#4. To: Skip Intro (#3)
Handsome devil, wouldn't you say?
Replies to Comment # 4. Lesson to women: Don't trust lizard men, no matter the size of their "horns."
End Trace Mode for Comment # 4.
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