New Xenoceratops Dinosaur Discovered in Canada




Xenoceratops' name comes from its enormous and elaborate set of facial horns, suggesting to researchers that complicated sets of horns were developing very early on in the course of horned dinosaurs’ evolution. Unlike the nose horn of the more well known triceratops, Xenoceratops boasted a mouth like a parrot’s beak, with a small ridge on top. It also had two larger horns over its eyes and frill at the back of its head. The frill is especially impressive as it's lined with small horns and crowned with a pair of enormous horns.

Despite its intimidating appearance, Xenoceratops was a reasonably gentle vegetarian, like the rest of its ceratopsid kin. It used its horns for self-defense rather than hunting. As with modern animals like deer and elk, it’s a stretch to think the horns on these normally gentle giants didn’t come out when mating season rolled around.

This article originally published at Geekosystem here

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